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The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams | 
 enlarge | Author: Darcy Frey
Publisher: Mariner Books
Category: Book
List Price: $13.00
Buy Used: $0.99
You Save: $12.01 (92%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 18568
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0618446710
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323620974723
EAN: 9780618446711
ASIN: 0618446710
Publication Date: March 3, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It ought to be just a game, but basketball on the playgrounds of Coney Island is much more than that ? for many young men it represents their only hope of escape from a life of crime, poverty, and despair. In The Last Shot, Darcy Frey chronicles the aspirations of four of the neighborhood's most promising players. What they have going for them is athletic talent, grace, and years of dedication. But working against them are woefully inadequate schooling, family circumstances that are often desperate, and the slick, brutal world of college athletic recruitment. Incisively and compassionately written, The Last Shot introduces us to unforgettable characters and takes us into their world with an intimacy seldom seen in contemporary journalism. The result is a startling and poignant expose of inner-city life and the big business of college basketball.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 39 more reviews...
Our nation has a long way to go!! June 11, 2008
This book was set in the early 90's in one of New York City's worst neighborhoods. The story is of the struggle that 3 friends (plus one genuine jerk) under go in their individual pursuits of college scholarships. The things that they see and experience are still the same type of challenges that face today's urban learners. I give Darvy Frey credit for bringing us in to their world in a way that very few authors can pull off. If you are considering buying this book do so you will not be dissapointed.
 Last Shot makes you know what C.I. is like... May 14, 2008
Coney Island the basketball playground of America is the setting for the Last Shot: City Streets and Basketball Dreams. 4 stories of H.S. basketball players who goto Abraham Lincoln H.S. and play for the might basketball team the Railsplitters (What a cool name). I mainly bought this book because Stephon Marbury is featured as one of the four people in it. I myself grew up in Brighton Beach one town away from Coney Island so I know how life is... This book is true and real and I recommend this book to any sports fan or anyone who is looking for a real treat.
Coney Island B-Ball March 25, 2008
A classic piece of sports writing, but for everyone. The author is a writer for the New York Times Magazine. In this book he writes about the lives of some high school basketball players/high school students (in that order).
Like the other posters have noted, it's not just for basketball freaks. It's a well written story about some kids in the 90's who live in the projects in Brooklyn, Coney Island for the most part, and how much basketball means to them. In the book it seems like basketball is their only path to success. But they are up against the recruiters, hustlers and the SATS (which they need to get a 700 on but that's just out of reach for most).
You get to meet the student athletes, Russell, Corey, Tchak, and Stephon, their parents, coaches, recruiters, local prophets, etc, and the author treats them all with a level of respect the New York Times Magazine accords the suit wearing sharks.
If you get this book, you won't have to read long before you're committed to reading the whole thing. It's a very rare book indeed that leaves me wanting more. I would have loved to read a sequel. Alas, we only get an afterward, but the story had to end somewhere and the afterward was, well, quite the shock.
Hoop Dreams March 29, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you like hoops you would love this story. Darcey frey the author who's also a sports writter follows the life of three young men who's dream is to become professional basketball players.Living in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn these three men are faced with durgs violence, and everything you see on the streets of Brooklyn. A very inspirational story, and a indepth look on the career of Stephon Marbury.This is a book you would want to share with a friend.
Symphony of words January 27, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book should be a classic, if it isn't already. As someone who hasn't a great deal of interest in basketball, I can throughly recommend it simply for the author's style. The man's prose reads like a dream as he brings the characters to life in an inimitable way. He enables you, the reader, to go right into the streets of New York and live the lives of each of his main characters, to get to know them, understand them and - in a sense - to *be* them. A definite must for your library.
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