Play Their Hearts Out

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What to expect

Eight years of unfettered access and a keen sense of a story's deepest truths allow Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Dohrmann to take readers inside the machine that produces America's basketball stars. Drawing on eight years of reporting and telling the very specific tale of one talented young recruit, his coach, and his teammates, Dohrmann immerses listeners in the world of grassroots basketball, where men hunt for future NBA stars and young boys and their parents navigate a tumultuous course in pursuit of basketball glory.

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. In Play Their Hearts Out, Dohrmann presents a thoroughly compelling narrative, exposing the gritty reality beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.

Critics Review

  • “[A] tour de force of reporting, filled with deft storytelling and vivid character studies…”

    Washington Post (editorial review)

  • “A wonderful and immaculately reported first book…It’s a brilliant and heart-wrenching journey, and a cautionary tale to any basketball player who thinks the path to the NBA is a slam dunk.”

    Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • “What Alexander Wolff and Armen Keteyian and Dan Wetzel and Don Yaeger did for college basketball recruiting, Pulitzer Prize–winning sportswriter Dohrmann does for grassroots basketball in this memorable book…His insights into the seamy side of youth basketball are investigative journalism at its best. An easy Verdict: this is one of the best sports books of recent years. Highly recommended.”

    Library Journal

  • “Basketball fans frequently hear references to AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) summer leagues, in which young players have a chance to hone their games. The AAU leagues are often criticized for exploiting young kids, but most of these charges have been based on rumor or hearsay. Until now. Dohrmann, the last sportswriter to win a Pulitzer Prize, spent approximately nine years researching this book…In Dohrmann’s portrayal, Keller emerges as a shameless promoter of himself and his players, a poor coach, and a man for whom ethics are always relative. Money, of course, is key…In fact, as Dohrmann shows, everyone makes money in this ‘amateur’ enterprise except the kids. An eye-opening look at the underbelly of modern American sports.”

    Booklist

  • “Sit down and read the Friday Night Lights of youth basketball. Except the landscape is even darker here, greed and blind ambition stirred together in a toxic stew, the perversions of the modern American athletic dream even more perverted. This is nothing less than Dickens brought up to date, the characters in Oliver Twist dressed in Adidas warm-up suits. Amazing stuff. You’ll never watch basketball the same again.”

    Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam

  • “Like a versatile baller, George Dohrmann swings seamlessly from position to position: investigative journalist, social critic, gifted storyteller. The result, Play Their Hearts Out is a gem of a book that addresses THE question central to contemporary basketball: how does such an unseemly culture spring from such an essentially beautiful game? You’ll come away rooting harder than ever for the kids and harder than ever against the basketball profiteers.”

    L. Jon Wertheim, author of Strokes of Genius

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