Jonathan Eig (born April 26, 1964) is an American journalist and biographer and the author of five books. His most recent book, ''Ali: A Life'', is a biography of
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
.
Biography
Eig was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and grew up in
Monsey, New York
Monsey (, yi, מאנסי, translit=Monsi) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The ...
. He is
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. His father was an accountant and his mother was a stay-at-home mom and community activist. Eig began working for his hometown newspaper when he was 16. He attended
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
's
Medill School of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...
, graduating in 1986 with a bachelor's degree. After college he worked as a news reporter for the ''
New Orleans Times-Picayune
''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...
'', ''The Dallas Morning News'', ''Chicago'' magazine, and ''The Wall Street Journal.'' Eig has taught writing at
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...
and lectures at Northwestern. He has written as a freelancer for many outlets, including ''The New York Times'', ''Washington Post'', and online edition of ''The New Yorker''. He is married to Jennifer Tescher and has three children. He lives in Chicago.
Eig appeared on ''
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' in May 2010. He has appeared in two PBS documentaries—''Prohibition'' and ''Jackie Robinson—''made by Ken Burns and Florentine Films. He is currently working with Burns as a consulting producer on a documentary about Muhammad Ali.
In 2016, Eig appeared on AMC's '' The Making of the Mob: Chicago'', talking about
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
.
Reception
In 2019 ''
Men's Health
''Men's Health'' (''MH''), published by Hearst, is the world's largest men's magazine brand, with 35 editions in 59 countries. It is also the best-selling men's magazine on U.S. newsstands.
Started as a men's health magazine by Rodale, Inc. ...
'' magazine named Eig's book ''Ali: A Life'' the 23rd best sports book of all time.
In 2020, ''
Esquire magazine
''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions.
Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...
'' called ''Ali'' one of the 35 best sports books ever written. ''Esquire'' also called Eig's book ''Luckiest Man'' one of the 100 best baseball books]of all time.
Eig's first book was ''Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig'' (2005). ''Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season'' was his second book. For his third book, ''Get Capone'', Eig discovered thousands of pages of never-before-reported government documents on the government's case against Capone. ''The Birth of the Pill'' (2014), Eig's fourth book, told the story of the renegades who invented the first oral contraceptive.
In a 2017 review of ''Ali: A Life'',
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
, writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', said: "This richly researched, sympathetic yet unsparing portrait of a controversial figure for whom the personal and the political dramatically fused could not come at a more appropriate time in our beleaguered American history…. As Muhammad Ali's life was an epic of a life so ''Ali: A Life'' is an epic of a biography. Much in its pages will be familiar to those with some knowledge of boxing but even the familiar may be glimpsed from a new perspective in Eig's fluent prose; for pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel — a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters who prevail through decades and who help to define the singular individual who was both a brilliantly innovative, incomparably charismatic heavyweight boxer and a public figure whose iconic significance shifted radically through the decades as in an unlikely fairy tale in which the most despised athlete in American history becomes, by the 21st century, the most beloved athlete in American history."
Published works
*''Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...
'' (2005)
*''Opening Day: The Story of
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
’s First Season'' (2007)
*''Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster'' (2010)
*''The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution'' (2014)
*'' Ali: A Life'' (2017)
*''King: A Life'' (2023)
Awards
*2005
Casey Award
The Casey Award has been given to the best baseball book of the year since 1983. The award was begun by Mike Shannon and W.J. Harrison, editors and co-founders of ''Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine''.
Casey Award recipients
*1983 – Er ...
for best baseball book of the year, ''Luckiest Man''
*2014 ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' "Best Books of the Year" for ''The Birth of the Pill''
*2015
Society of Midland Authors
The Society of Midland Authors is an association of published authors from twelve American states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
According to its constit ...
, non-fiction book of the year, ''The Birth of the Pill''
*2017
NAACP Image Awards
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...
, finalist, ''Ali: A Life''
*2017
William Hill Sports Book of the Year
The William Hill Sports Book of the Year is an annual British sports literary award sponsored by bookmaker William Hill. The award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing. It was first awarded in 1989, and was devised by Graham ...
, best sports book, finalist, ''Ali: A Life''
*2018 Plutarch Award, best biography, finalist, ''Ali: A Life''
*2018
PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing The PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing was awarded by the PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to honor "a nonfiction book about sports."British Sports Book Awards, for ''Ali: A Life''
*2018 New York Times Notable Book, for Ali: A Life
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...