Last Shot : City Streets, Basketball Dreams

by Darcy Frey

• ISBN13: 9780684815091
• ISBN10: 0684815095
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-01-24
• Publisher: Touchstone

Summary

It ought to be just a game, but basketball on the playgrounds of Coney Island is much more than that for many young men it represents their only hope of escape from a life of crime, poverty, and despair. In The Last Shot, Darcy Frey chronicles the aspirations of four of the neighborhood's most promising players. What they have going for them is athletic talent, grace, and years of dedication. But working against them are woefully inadequate schooling, family circumstances that are often desperate, and the slick, brutal world of college athletic recruitment. Incisively and compassionately written, The Last Shot introduces us to unforgettable characters and takes us into their world with an intimacy seldom seen in contemporary journalism. The result is a startling and poignant expose of inner-city life and the big business of college basketball.

Author Biography

Darcy Frey is a contributing editor at Harper's and The New York Times Magazine. The article on which this book is based won a National Magazine Award and the Livingston Award and was collected in The Best American Essays 1994. The Last Shot is Frey's first book.