Tigerland - 1968 1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season

Zusatztext “Journalist Haygood tells a story of perseverance! courage! and breathtaking talent as he recounts! in vibrant detail! the achievements of the Tigers! a basketball and baseball team at Columbus! Ohio’s inner-city East High School...[The] author creates moving portraits of the teenagers and their undaunted coaches and supporters...Haygood dramatically renders the heady excitement of each game! the tense moments of a close contest! and the exuberant—tear-jerking—wins. The inspiring story of East High’s championship becomes even more astonishing in the context of endemic racism! which the author closely examines! and “the turmoil of a nation at war and in the midst of unrest!” roiled by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. An engrossing tale of one shining moment in dark times.” — Kirkus (starred review) “As in all his avidly read books! Haygood sets the stories of fascinating individuals within the context of freshly reclaimed and vigorously recounted African American history as he masterfully brings a high school and its community to life. This laugh-and-cry tale of rollicking and wrenching drama set to the beat of thumping basketballs and the crack of baseball bats! fast breaks and cheerleaders’ chants! is electric with tension and conviction! and incandescent with unity and hope.” — Booklist (starred review) “Mr. Haygood executes a series of historical fadeaway jump shots! taking us back for extended interludes with the likes of Rev. King! Jackie Robinson! federal Judge Bobby Duncan and other civil rights catalysts...the interludes illustrate the forward leaps! staggering setbacks and relentlessly hard work toward equality in America... And then we’re off on a classic sports story! as the school’s basketball and baseball players take form and the teams clamber to improbable heights. Naturally! Mr. Haygood explores the forces that shaped the young men! almost all of whom grew up in fatherless families with working mothers who struggled to feed and clothe them. Like J. Anthony Lukas’ Pulitzer Prize-winning 1985 book! “Common Ground” — also focused on school segregation — there’s complexity and ambiguity throughout.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Informationen zum Autor Wil Haygood Klappentext Against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in recent American history! as riots and demonstrations spread across the nation! the Tigers of poor! segregated East High School in Columbus! Ohio did something no team from one school had ever done before: they won the state basketball and baseball championships in the same year. They defeated bigger! richer! whiter teams across the state and along the way brought blacks and whites together! eased a painful racial divide throughout the state! and overcame extraordinary obstacles on their road to success. In Tigerland! Wil Haygood gives us a spirited and stirring account of this improbable triumph and takes us deep into the personal lives of these local heroes. At the same time! he places the Tigers' story in the context of the racially charged sixties! bringing in such national figures as Jackie Robinson! Martin Luther King Jr.! and Richard Nixon! all of whom had a connection to the teams and a direct effect on their mythical season. Excerpted from Chapter Two: Ollie Mae Walker and her husband, Charles, arrived in Columbus in 1948. Like many others, they had had enough of the South. They came as yet one more black family clutching battered suitcases and boxes of clothes and moving to the Poindexter Village housing projects. Charles worked as a janitor. There were eight Walker children. One day Charles announced he was leaving, going back to Georgia. His wife and children assumed something was wrong on his side of the family, or there was some kind of family business he had to attend to. But he left and never returned. Ollie Mae had to raise the children all a...

Produktdetails

• Autoren: WIl Haygood
• Verlag: Knopf
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 30.09.2018
• EAN: 9781524731861
• ISBN: 978-1-5247-3186-1
• Seiten: 432
• Abmessung: 169 mm x 242 mm x 34 mm
• Themen: Ratgeber > Sport > Ballsport; Sachbuch > Geschichte > Sonstiges