The Assist

"Anyone who cares about Boston and race and hope and hoops will take heart from Neil Swidey's The Assist, in which decent kids jockey for a lucky break in a world in which decency and luck are often in short supply. Set in compact, feisty, history-haunted Charlestown, this book is a powerhouse work of literary journalism about a powerhouse basketball program and the coach who would't take no for an anwser." Madeleine Blais, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle, from the bookjacket.