Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story |
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| Title: | Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story |
| Author: | Peter Heller |
| Publisher: | Da Capo Press |
| Type: | Book / Paperback |
| Publication Date: | 22 August, 1995 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 030680669X / 9780306806698 |
| List Price: | $19.00 |
| You Save: | $2.76 |
| Amazon Price: | $16.24 |
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This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $15.14.
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
Relying on in-depth research and interviews with those who have known Tyson at every stage of his life, this book portrays the shy child who became a vicious street thug, discovered boxing in juvenile prison, and was brought to the attention of the legendary Cus D'Amato to be shaped to be one thing--heavyweight champion of the world. 33 photos.
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Customer Reviews:
• Bad Intentions: The Mike Tyson Story
03 January, 2006
Buy this book read & see why Mike Tyson was the greatest Boxing Champion ever.
Tyson will always Rule!
- Amazon Customer Review
• No One Word In The English Language Can Describe This Man!
25 July, 2006
This book gets five stars alone for the great investigative journalism and stop-at-no-ends-to-get-the-truth reporting.
This kind of writing is getting rarer and rarer given sooo many writers -- especially of sports book -- come with a slant that once you get beyond it's timeliness, really paints the author in a worse light than the subject/team/issue they wrote about.
This is by far and away one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.
Mike Tyson as ... mindless brute to be feared? con artist too smart for his own good? endlessly incredible athlete to be respected? menace to be locked away? and self-destructive, innocent manchild predestined to failure?
These are all concepts that are explored and in depth in this book.
I honestly can see all of the aforementioned perspectives!!!!!
It's interesting but the writer supports each of these ideas enough that you really can't automatically tell just from reading this book what opinions/conclusions the writer actually reached on a personal level -- and this book is all the better for it.
Mike was one of the most physically awesome athletes of the 20th Century and he also said/did some disgraceful things.
Mike is yet another pro athlete that fell victim to all the vulptures who saw him and used him as a meal ticket.
And he's also on woeful little boy who grew into a man who acted out his childhood traumas.
All in all, is he a hero or a monster? A man who just didn't take responsibility for his actions or someone to be pitied because of his (inherent?) personal inability to do so?
You have to read this book and THEN make the call. It's not as easy as you might think.
- Amazon Customer Review
• New Information At A Time This Was Hard To Accomplish
27 January, 2007
Excellent insights; especially into the behind the scenes elements in Tyson's life - or lack thereof. The darkness of Boxing is exposed by the accounts of the deals made without the neccessity of finding smoke-filled rooms.
While you may find it hard to pity Tyson of today; it's easier to understand the path he's taken after the reading of this book.
- Amazon Customer Review
• You Must Throw Every Punch With Bad Intentions
12 July, 2004
You Must Throw Every Punch With Bad Intentions4.75 StarsBad Intentions - more than just a title - it's a D'Amato philosophy.A great quote from Cus D'Amato that stuck with throughout the book and after:"No matter what anyone says, no matter the excuse or explanation, whatever a person does in the end is what he intended to do all along."Really a fantastic book from the beginning - Tyson as a kid - Cus & The Kid all the way to where it ends - the rape trial and conviction. This is a great read and an attention-grabbing perspective on Tyson and those around him.You get a deeper look at and much needed tour of D'Amato, Jacobs, Cayton, Rooney and the entire original Team Tyson line up - I can't help but wish that Mike stayed with them. These people really seemed to have his best interest in mind and truly loved him.My one complaint is Heller's take on the rape trial - I felt he did a horrible job with the review of details and happenings - to say that Tyson's lawyer was of the same caliber of Clarence Darrow - PLEASE - the guy was Don Kings TAX attorney - he had no business defending Tyson - there were witnesses not allowed to testify, his strategy was ridiculous and there are other issues that I just wont include in this review...I recommend this book and once I finished I wish there was more. I found it complete (for the time it covered), thorough and mostly accurate (except the trial/conviction) - it's one of those books where you feel part of the story.Both the Tyson fan and non-fan can enjoy this book.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Reads Like A Good Novel, Informative But Needs Another Update
03 September, 2005
Bar none, this is the best book I've read about Tyson. It's full of facts and direct quotes from loads of people who worked with/against Tyson, as well as the man himself. It's also a great book for someone like myself- a fan who loved Tyson the boxer but always found Tyson the man to be a jerk, albeit a sometimes misunderstood one.
This book traces Tyson's history from his reckless juvenile days in the streets and the Tryon home for outcast boys, all the way up to Don King, Robin Givens, and his rape conviction. There's a subsequent update chapter that describes the goings-on after his release, but this is just a few pages long and stops before his first post-jail fight with Peter McNeely. It's interesting, but it's very short. Fortunately the book itself is a meaty several hundred pages.
Its outdatedness is the only real problem with the book. Originally written in the mid 90s, it describes everything up to his rape conviction in great detail. It reads like a page-turning novel, a tale full of treachery and corruption - the honing of a wayward youth into a disciplined fighter and his subsequent recidivism. The book is completely objective, as well. It shows us the sweet side of Tyson, and makes no bones about the fact that he had one. But it's also crystal clear that he was a beast, giving us many examples of Tyson's primitive and criminal behavior. Beloved trainer Cus D'Amoto isn't safe either, for there's evidence in this book (which I'd never seen before) that shows he wasn't just a sweet old man who took Tyson in and raised him as his own.
But in addition to discussing main characters like these, people like Robin Givens and Don King are discussed in great length as well. They emerge as the real villains of the story, as well they should. Everyone knows how badly they affected Tyson's career, and the book traces all the details of how and why. In fact, King has his own lengthy chapter, giving us a full portrait of the man's history and questionable relationships with countless people on his way to Tyson -that's how thorough this book is.
Long story short, it's a shame that this book doesn't continue past Tyson's imprisonment and brief release, because it's a greatly researched, open-minded, passionate and thorough account of Tyson's career as well as boxing itself and loads of the people on Tyson's periphery. Loaded with insight from other boxers, scholars of the sport, and many (like Teddy Atlas) who worked with Tyson himself, it's a very broad offering of information. Pick it up whether you like the man OR hate him, it's a fascinating read.
- Amazon Customer Review
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