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From Publishers Weekly
Coney Island, Brooklyn, once New York City's playground, is now an archetypal ghetto, filled with high-rise housing projects and populated almost exclusively by African Americans. High schoolers there attend Abraham Lincoln High, known all around the East Coast for its outstanding basketball teams, where players see the sport as their way out of second-class citizenship. In his first book, Frey, a contributing editor at Harper's and the New York Times Magazine, has composed a sensitive account of a year in the lives of four exceptional players (three seniors and one freshman), their coach and their families, and he shows that the game can indeed be a means of escape in spite of their school's poor academic reputation. But the way out is fraught with difficulties. For instance, Frey offers devastating anecdotes about dishonest college recruiters and about the NCAA. This excellent book is not only about basketball but about realizing a dream, and its appeal should be very wide.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
For many adolescents on Coney Island, basketball is their only escape from the urban hell of poverty, crime, and drugs. The Last Shot chronicles a group of teenagers playing for one of the best teams in New York, the Abraham Lincoln Secondary School Railsplitters. These young males continually cope with circumstances beyond their control in a society that has failed miserably to provide a safe environment and, more importantly, a good education. The author, who won a National Magazine Award for the story upon which this account is based, also explains how those living in high-risk areas suffered the most when the National Collegiate Athletic Association raised the standards of acceptable SAT scores for athletes. The young men whose stories Frey so poignantly captures exist in a world of "mean streets and basketball dreams." Recommended.
L.R. Little, Penticton P.L., British Columbia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
L.R. Little, Penticton P.L., British Columbia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
ABRAHAM LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL is a massive yellow brick building of ornate stonework and steel-gated windows at the end of Ocean Parkway, a stately, tree-lined boulevard about a mile from the Coney Island projects. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
ABRAHAM LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL is a massive yellow brick building of ornate stonework and steel-gated windows at the end of Ocean Parkway, a stately, tree-lined boulevard about a mile from the Coney Island projects. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good story, could have been a great book with better writing,
By brazos49 "brazos49" (Sugar Land, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams (Paperback)
I found this to be an interesting story and a pretty good book. I thought the descriptions of the coaches' recruiting antics were very enlightening and well written. Being able to use some of the real names, particularly very well known ones such as Stephon Marbury and Jim Boeheim, added a lot to the credibility of the book.Where I found this work to be lacking was in the descriptive writing. Really good writers construct word pictures that are vivid and allow the reader to better experience the story being told. I didn't find the writing quality in this book that would have made me rate it a 5 star effort. This author's style seemed to me to be more like a newspaper reporter's - limited to a fixed amount of space and more focused on the basics than the aesthetics. Outstanding books also need to deliver the aesthetics in the form of well painted word pictures. I wish this book had been stronger in that area.
5.0 out of 5 stars
not just for die-hards,
By sfdoc (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams (Paperback)
This is a great book, and not just for basketball fans. I listened to the audio book during a multi-stop meandering road trip and barely wanted to leave the car.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just a Great book,
By "brendan16" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams (Paperback)
This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's not just another stupid basketball book -- it's really an in-depth look into the lives of 4 inner city kids trying to reach success by way of a basketball scholarship. The author follows their high school team around for about 9 months, and chronicles his experiences and conversations with each kid (one of whom is future NBA star Stephon Marbury). This book will fascinate you with true stories and inside looks at the often-crooked nature of amateur sports, but what I found most compelling was the way their own education system and support structure often failed them.
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