The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White

Registered by pinklady60 of San Diego, California USA on 2/16/2011
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by pinklady60 from San Diego, California USA on Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Received from Library Thing's Early Reviewer Program.

Journal Entry 2 by pinklady60 at San Diego, California USA on Sunday, February 20, 2011
An African-American basketball coach in Central Seattle integrates his all-black team with some white players, hoping to give his boys an additional life experience. The author of this book was one of those white kids. Twenty years later, he tells the story of the boys on his team, how the roles of race and class affected their lives, and what became of them as adults.

I was actually expecting more about the team itself, so was surprised that two-thirds of the book was devoted to Merlino’s research of race relations in Seattle, the educational system, and the boys as adults. The part I found most interesting was how the private Lakeside School struggled for more diversity in its student body and faculty. To quote Merlino, “While nearly everyone agrees that “diversity,” in a broad sense, is a desirable thing, what exactly that means in the real world is hard to define.”

Unfortunately at times I had trouble keeping track of the characters and their individual stories and found the team photo helpful. Although I would have preferred a more organized and linear writing style, the book did make me examine my own thoughts about racial and cultural diversity

Journal Entry 3 by pinklady60 at San Diego, California USA on Sunday, April 14, 2013

Released 10 yrs ago (4/15/2013 UTC) at San Diego, California USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to msjoanna in Missouri as part of a trade. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 4 by msjoanna at Columbia, Missouri USA on Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Thanks for sharing. I've heard really good things about this book.

Journal Entry 5 by msjoanna at Columbia, Missouri USA on Monday, December 19, 2016
I can't remember where I heard about this book. I see I got it in a trade, so I must have had it on my wishlist at some point. In any event, the book delivered a much more interesting story than I expected. I thought this would be a sports team story about the underdog sports club that managed to go win a championship. But that was really just the first fifth of the book. The heart of this book is a reprise twenty years later when the author decides to track down all the members of the team and find out where their lives have taken them.

The book is a close examination of Seattle, but it has more universal appeal. Private elementary and secondary schools all over the country have struggled with what it means to foster diversity. As the author points out, the whole point of the school is to give an educational advantage to the students. This is what parents are paying for after all. So there is real tension in giving some of the limited number of seats available to anyone else because it does take spots from the wealthy whites who think of the school as their school. I was especially interested in the interviews the author did with some of the first African-American teachers at Lakeside (i.e., the private school that Bill Gates went to).

I really enjoyed reading the book and the author did a great job presenting the stories of the different team members without moralizing or judging.

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