Shortlisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing“A searingly honest and intimate portrait of a captivating icon.” —Baxter Holmes, ESPN NBA reporterThrough extensive research and interviews with those closest to Iverson, acclaimed Washington Post sportswriter Kent Babb gets behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of the hard-changing, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last...

A "gripping" account of a New Orleans high school football team fighting to win on the field—and survive on the streets (Lars Anderson, New York Times–bestselling author of A Season in the Sun).On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this ...

On the west bank of the Mississippi lies the New Orleans neighborhood of Algiers. Short on hope but big on dreams, its mostly poor and marginalized residents find joy on Friday nights when the Cougars of Edna Karr High School take the field. For years, this football program has brought glory to Algiers, winning three consecutive state championships and sending dozens of young men to college on football scholarships.Although he is preparing for a fourth title, head ...

Through extensive research and interviews with those closest to Iverson, acclaimed Washington Post sportswriter Kent Babb gets behind the familiar, sanitized, and heroic version of the hard-changing, hard-partying athlete who played every game as if it were his last.Former NBA superstar Allen Iverson was once one of America’s most famous athletes: a trendsetter who transcended race, celebrity, and pop culture, and emerged from a troubled past to become one...

Presidential candidates are a breed apart, often propelled by traits that have shaped their careers and have deep roots in personal histories.Often their greatest strength can turn at supernova speed into their greatest weakness. The exact qualities that set them apart from the field trip them up eventually over the long haul of a presidential campaign.Hillary Clinton’s won’t-back-down resolve is the quality that could make her America’s first female president if it doesn’t...