Tyson

Nurture of the Beast

Ellis Cashmore

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780745630700
  9780745630694
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780745657332
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Beast. Monster. Savage. Psycho. The glowering menace of Mike Tyson has spooked us for almost two decades. And still we remain fascinated. Why? Ellis Cashmore's answer is disturbing: white society has created Tyson as vengeance for the loss of privilege produced by civil rights.

Cashmore's eviscerating analysis of Tyson's life and the culture in which he grew up, rose to prominence and descended into disgrace provokes the reader into re-thinking the role of one of the most controversial and infamous figures of recent history. Told as an odyssey-style homeward journey to Tyson's multi-pathological origins in the racially-explosive ghettos of the 1960s, Tyson's story is part biography, part tragedy and part exposition. His associations with people like Al Sharpton, Don King and Tupac Shakur shaped his life; and events, such as the O J Simpson trial and the Rodney King riots, formed a turbulent background for the Tyson psychodrama.

Over the course of an epic boxing career, Tyson was transformed from the most celebrated athlete on earth to a primal, malevolent hate-figure. Yet, even after being condemned as a brute, Tyson retained a power - a power to captivate. Cashmore reveals that the sources of that power lie as much in us as in Tyson himself.

INDEX

A-list celebrities

ABC

Abraham, Seth

Abramovsky, Abraham

Abrams, Robert

Adarand Constructors, Inc. vs. Peña

Advertiser

advertising, MT in; see also endorsements

Advertising Age

affirmative action programs

African Americans see black people

African Americans Against Violence

Ain, Sanford K.

Albert, Marv

Alexander the Great

Ali, Khaliah

Ali, Muhammad; vs. Berbick; vs. Foreman; vs. Liston; vs. Spinks

Alomar, Roberto

Anderson, Dave

Anderson, Orlando

Andries, Dennis

Angelou, Maya

Angels with Dirty Faces (movie)

Anheuser-Busch

Aniston, Jennifer

anomie

AOL Time Warner

Archer-Straw, Petrine

Arnette, Jeanetta

Arum, Bob

Ashe, Arthur

Atlas, Teddy

August, LaDonna

automaticity in sport

Bad Boy Entertainment

Baime, Albert

Bak, Richard

Baltimore Afro-American

Baltimore Ravens

Baransky, Matt

Barry, Marion

BBC

Bega, Leslie

Benedict, Jeff

Benitez, Wilfred

Bennet, Ernie

Bennett, Lerone, Jr

Bennett, Willie

Berbick, Trevor

Berger, Phil

Bernard-Donals, M.

Best Damn Sports Show Period (tv program)

bestiality: black people; boxers; see also Tyson, Mike

Biggs, Tyrell

black culture

Black Panther Party

black people; ambition (see also Givens, Robin; King, Don); and black boxers; legacy of black athleticism for; MT’s increasing alignment with; O. J. Simpson case; opinion of MT’s rape trial; Otherness; reaction to MT’s punishment for ear-biting incident; response to MT’s release from prison; white people’s view of; see also bestiality; racial mythology; racial stereotypes

black success, attitudes to

black underclass

black women; see also racial stereotypes

Blade Runner (movie)

Bloods gang

Bonds, Barry

Boomerang (movie)

Borges, Ron

Bose, Mihir

Boston Globe

Boswell, Tom

Botha, Francois

Bowe, Riddick

boxing; connection with organized crime; Don King’s career as promoter; heavyweight champion industry; methods; reaction to ear-biting incident; sadism; see also International Boxing Federation; World Boxing Association; World Boxing Council

boxing career of MT; introduction to boxing; early training in Catskill Mountains; becomes professional boxer; (1986–1987); (1988–1990); (1990–1992); on release from prison (1995); (1996–1998), including ear-biting incident and suspension from boxing; (1999–2001); (2002–2003), including defeat by Lennox Lewis; (2004)

Boxing Illustrated

Boyd, Angela

Boyz N the Hood (movie)

Brady, James

Brady, Jim

Brawley, Tawana, case; MT’s involvement

Bright, Jay

Brooke, Edward W.

Brown, James

Brown, Oliver

Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)

Brownsville, Brooklyn, MT’s early life

Bruno, Frank

Burns, Tommy...

Table of contents

• Cover
• CELEBRITIES
• Title page
• Copyright page
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Endorsements
• one INTRODUCTION: I WILL KILL YOU. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS?
• two IF YOU’D BE KIND ENOUGH, I’D LOVE TO DO IT AGAIN
• three ARE YOU AN ANIMAL? IT DEPENDS
• four LIKE WATCHING A SERENGETI LION RIP INTO A WARTHOG
• five HIS VITAL ORGANS IN EXCHANGE FOR FORGIVENESS
• six GOD’S PLANNING TO SCREW HIM
• seven TO RAPE THE VIRGINAL BLACK PRINCESS
• eight IN HANDCUFFS IN THE BACK OF A POLICE CRUISER
• nine THEY BELIEVE WHITE MEN HAVE HAD TO PAY FOR BLACK SUCCESS
• ten TIME TO LEAVE THE WHITE MAN’S WORLD
• eleven FACTS ARE LOST IN THE PRECONCEPTIONS OF RACIAL GRIEVANCE
• twelve GIVE HIM ENOUGH TIME AND THE NIGGER WILL COME OUT IN HIM AGAIN
• thirteen THE DEBT OF THE GHETTO BOUND
• fourteen YOU’D STILL LOOK AT ME AS A SCUMBAG
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Index