Kentucky Lion: The True Story of Cassius Clay

by Pamela Wallace, Richard Kiel, Richard Kiel / Pamela Wallace

The story of this overlooked real life hero who probably did more to help end slavery than any man of his time...Cassius Clay This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979494818
• ISBN13: 9780979494819
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Morrison McNae Publishing
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Undiscovered History

I picked up the book because I have an interest in all things related to the Civil War, but I had no idea that Clay was not only such an historic figure in the history of the American South, but that he was such a trusted advisor to President Lincoln and that he was actually a foreign diplomat serving in Russia. The book is written with a lot of passion and I learned a great deal about an almost forgetten statesman.

Put your feet up in a nice snuggly chair and take a stroll into history

The true story of Cassius Clay; Kentucky Lion - well the only Cassius Clay I know of changed his name to Muhammad Ali. You could have knocked me over with a feather because this novel is certainly not about Ali. It is about the pungent desire of a privileged young man to right a wrong against his best friend George. At the reading of his father's will Cash, the youngest son, was to oversee the Whitehall plantation estate which included the slaves. Cash immediately freed the slaves and provided them with a fair wage for their work. So began the saga of the little known hero Cassius Marcellus Clay. I was totally immersed in this wonderful, exciting, heart wrenching epic of an era gone by; of the struggles, murder, and intrigue all set in the mid to late nineteenth century. Abundant in history and romance this novel is on the top of my list of must reads.

Great reading for young and old alike!

This is a very entertaining and informative read for most ages and just about anyone will appreciate this true and amazing story of a real life hero! I could not put it down. We need more men like this in our leadership today. Richard Kiel has done a fine job researching the facts and has come up with a great accounting of the original Cassius Clay. You cannot pass this one up.

From the publisher:

Written by Richard Kiel who spent nearly 27 years researching the story and Pamela Wallace who received an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the Movie "Witness," this historic novel is truly a labor of love. Cassius Clay lived less than thirty miles from where the South held slave auctions, yet decades before the Emancipation Proclamation, he freed the slaves on his plantation. He spent his life working to abolish slavery - a man who did more to bring about the end of slavery than anyone besides Lincoln. He is the man for whom Muhammad Ali was named. And now Richard Kiel and Pamela Wallace are telling his story in novel form in the spirit of John Jakes or Irving Stone. The reality of Clay the abolitionist clashes sharply with Ali's contention that he was named after a plantation owner who raped a slave. On the contrary, Clay was against slavery - and the mistreatment of slaves -from an early age. After witnessing injustice to his best friends, both slaves, the teen-aged Clay vowed that one day all slaves would be free. He worked tirelessly toward that goal, eventually as a Kentucky state representative. The personal cost was high, but in spite of his trials, Clay succeeded in advancing his cause. Just 4% of Southerners actually owned slaves. The other 96%, forced to compete against slave labor, largely lived in poverty. They supported Clay and his views and, at his urging, successfully lobbied their representatives to put a moratorium on slavery in Kentucky. Clay later ran for president against this friend Abraham Lincoln before throwing his considerable financial support behind his opponent. Clay then became U.S. Ambassador to Russia and negotiated the purchase of Alaska. Full of romance, intrigue and action, Kentucky Lion is a true story presented as a historical novel. Reading Kentucky Lion will cause people to think differently about the South, its people, and how slavery affected everyone.

A great book

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great story written in a style that makes you appreciate the flaws of a hero who always wanted to do the right thing inspite of himself but, in the end, it cost him what he valued most, his family. It's a history lesson that's presented in a way that can be enjoyed by anyone.