Ellis Cashmore is Professor of Culture, Media and Sport at Staffordshire University

Acknowledgments vii
one INTRODUCTION: I WILL KILL YOU. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS? 1
two IF YOU'D BE KIND ENOUGH, I'D LOVE TO DO IT AGAIN13
three ARE YOU AN ANIMAL? IT DEPENDS 29
four LIKE WATCHING A SERENGETI LION RIP INTO A WARTHOG 43
five HIS VITAL ORGANS IN EXCHANGE FOR FORGIVENESS 60
six GOD'S PLANNING TO SCREW HIM 87
seven TO RAPE THE VIRGINAL BLACK PRINCESS 108
eight IN HANDCUFFS IN THE BACK OF A POLICE CRUISER 131
nine THEY BELIEVE WHITE MEN HAVE HAD TO PAY FOR BLACK SUCCESS144
ten TIME TO LEAVE THE WHITE MAN'S WORLD 162
eleven FACTS ARE LOST IN THE PRECONCEPTIONS OF RACIAL GRIEVANCE191
twelve GIVE HIM ENOUGH TIME AND THE NIGGER WILL COME OUT IN HIMAGAIN 213
thirteen THE DEBT OF THE GHETTO BOUND 231
fourteen YOU'D STILL LOOK AT ME AS A SCUMBAG 245
Bibliography 256
Index 260

Beast. Monster. Savage. Psycho. The glowering menace of Mike Tysonhas spooked us for almost two decades. And still we remainfascinated. Why? Ellis Cashmore's answer is disturbing: whitesociety has created Tyson as vengeance for the loss of privilegeproduced by civil rights.
Cashmore's eviscerating analysis of Tyson's life and the culturein which he grew up, rose to prominence and descended into disgraceprovokes the reader into re-thinking the role of one of the mostcontroversial and infamous figures of recent history. Told as anodyssey-style homeward journey to Tyson's multi-pathologicalorigins in the racially-explosive ghettos of the 1960s, Tyson'sstory is part biography, part tragedy and part exposition. Hisassociations with people like Al Sharpton, Don King and TupacShakur shaped his life; and events, such as the O J Simpson trialand the Rodney King riots, formed a turbulent background for theTyson psychodrama.
Over the course of an epic boxing career, Tyson was transformedfrom the most celebrated athlete on earth to a primal, malevolenthate-figure. Yet, even after being condemned as a brute, Tysonretained a power - a power to captivate. Cashmore reveals that thesources of that power lie as much in us as in Tyson himself.