Play Their Hearts Out - by George Dohrmann (Paperback)

About the Book

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist offers an up-close and unforgettable narrative that reveals the gritty reality hiding behind the romanticized hoop dreams of America's basketball prodigies. Winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting and the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports.

Book Synopsis

"A tour de force of reporting" (The Washington Post) from a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist that examines the often-corrupt machine producing America's basketball stars

"Indispensable."--The Wall Street Journal
"Often heart-breaking, always riveting."--The New York Times Book Review
"Tremendous."--The Plain Dealer

Winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting- Winner of the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports

Using eight years of unfettered access and a keen sense of a story's deepest truths, journalist George Dohrmann reveals a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. At the book's heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious coach with a master plan to find and promote "the next LeBron," and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller's sway and struggles to live up to unrealistic expectations.

Complete with a new "where-are-they-now" epilogue by the author, Play Their Hearts Out is a thoroughly compelling narrative exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.

One of GQ'S 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century - One of the Best Books of the Year: Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews

This edition includes an exclusive conversation between George Dohrmann and bestselling author Seth Davis.

Review Quotes

"Often heartbreaking, always riveting."--The New York Times Book Review

"Tremendous."--The Plain Dealer

"Indispensable."--The Wall Street Journal

"A tour de force of reporting, filled with deft storytelling and vivid character studies."--The Washington Post

"One of the finest sports books of all time."--Harper's Magazine

"Amazing stuff . . . The Friday Night Lights of youth basketball."--Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam

"A landmark achievement in basketball journalism."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author

George Dohrmann is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and the magazine's investigative reporter. In 2000, while working at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories that uncovered a college basketball team's academic fraud. Dohrmann lives in San Francisco with his family. This is his first book.