All Guts and No Glory

All Guts and No Glory: An Alabama Coach’s Memoir of Desegregating College Athletics, by Bill Elder (2007)

Elder was born in Alabama but also grew up in Ohio, where his father moved his family to pursue business opportunities. He would later return to the south at the start of his career in college athletics.

The author had a keen eye for racial segregation early on, often asking questions of his parents that they didn’t want to answer. Elder recalls attending a Birmingham Barons baseball game at Rickwood Field, during which he asked his father why there were separate seating arrangements for blacks and whites. Compounding the schizophrenia of the segregated south, blacks and whites were allowed to sit together in the same facility when they attended games played by the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons.

As a sophomore in college, Elder returned to the south to attend school at Howard (now Samford) University. He then earned a master’s degree at the University of Tennessee. The second half of this book recalls the author’s experiences at newly opened Northeast Junior College.

By the end of three seasons, Elder had established a record of 53 wins and 22 losses. This is all the more impressive since he served as a department head, athletics director, and intramurals director in addition to his duties as Head Basketball Coach at Northeast. While he had built a strong program at the school, he still coached an all-white squad.

It was at this point that Elder was asked by the university president to begin recruiting black basketball players. While he received assurances that he would have the full support of school administration, the author quickly found himself alienated among a faculty that were clearly uncomfortable with an integrated athletics program.

Worse for the coach and his young players was the reaction of the broader community, who made it clear on a number of occasions that they did not appreciate black student-athletes. Elder’s struggles to coach in this hostile environment comprise the most compelling pages of this short autobiography.

I was disappointed that more time wasn’t given to Elder’s time after the integration at Northeast. One gets the sense that even over thirty-five years it is not a topic the author enjoys revisiting. In spite of this, I found it a captivating account throughout. Highly recommended.

Up High in the Trees

Up High in the Trees, by Kiara Brinkman (2007)

Brinkman’s first book is a account of a family struggling to cope following the death of a mother. The story is told by the mother’s son, eight-year-old Sebastian Lane, who lives with an older brother and sister, and his professor father.

According to some reviewers, Sebby exhibits signs of mild autism or Asperger’s syndrome, which may explain why he seems to be unable to express himself appropriately at times. At the same time, he comes across as uniquely in tune with the emotions of those around him, as well as being obsessed with the details of his mother’s death.

The mother’s death most profoundly affects Sebby and his father, Stephen. Sebby acts out at school and Stephen begins to have trouble managing his new reality. The father takes his son out of school to stay at their summer home, hoping that a change in routine will help both of them, but Stephen only sinks further into depression. Alone in his grief, young Sebby writes letters to his teacher and others to cope as he recalls the close bond he still shares with his mother.

Delivered in short episodes, the book moves seamlessly between past and present and into the corners of the protagonist’s brilliant mind. The author does an excellent job of conveying life from the standpoint of a young boy. The Washington Post’s Ron Charles concludes that “Up High in the Trees is not a novel about autism, a condition that affects nearly 1 percent of us; it's about grief, a condition that affects 100 percent of us at one time or another.” Brinkman’s debut is a moving and compelling story throughout. Highly recommended.

Strapped

Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead, by Tamara Draut (2006)

Draut, a fellow at Dēmos, a New York City-based think tank, describes the challenges facing the age group often referred as Generation X. Her book paints a dismal economic picture for today’s 20- and 30-somethings.

The author describes a debt-for-diploma system that has not only required students to take out large loans but has priced college out of reach for many. The average student now graduates with $20,000 in debt, a figure that rises to $45,000 for those who chose to go to graduate school. This economic reality stands in stark contrast to that of the World War II and Baby Boomer generations, who were more likely to obtain federal grants and graduate with little or no debt.

Today’s generation often accumulates more than student loan debt. Draut describes how deregulation in the credit card industry has led to a new wave of credit offers to those who are younger and less financially secure. The author describes a generation that relies increasingly on credit cards to finance car repairs and other emergency expenses.

Draut describes the phenomenon of dwindling pay for workers in her chapter “Paycheck Paralysis.” With a large percentage of today’s women in the workforce, the author expounds on the fact that it now takes two incomes to reach the major milestones of home ownership and having a child even as these goals could be accomplished with one income forty years ago.

After devoting the first three quarters of her book to describing these economic challenges, Draut explores why this generation doesn’t demand more of their government in helping them live a better life. Former president Ronald Reagan’s influence and his insistence that “government isn’t the solution, it is the problem,” are cited as major reasons that today’s 18 to 34-year-olds are more likely to blame themselves for their shortcomings than to point to failing public policy.

The author often refers to the stereotypes of Generation X as being slackers at the office and as being irresponsible with their money, although she rarely tells her reader from where these criticisms originate. Even so, Draut has told a story that many younger readers will find all too familiar. Although her book is long on describing problems and short on solutions, it is an engaging read. Strongly recommended.

Grace (Eventually)

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott (2007)

Lamott’s latest book is a collection of essays, mostly republished from other sources. Her take on faith and spirituality was not what this reviewer expected, although it probably should have been: it is the first of her books I have read.

Because the essays here were originally written to stand by themselves, the repeated themes—her addictions and her contempt for George W. Bush—are initially tiresome. Those unfamiliar with Lamott’s liberal politics will almost certainly not make it past the first pages.

As the title suggests, Lamott’s quirky and sometimes humorous observations grew on this reviewer (eventually), even as I felt that I was getting something that was radically different from what I expected. Even for one who agrees with her politics it is a challenging read: her retelling of a misspent youth, which includes the aforementioned struggles with addiction and an abortion, is hardly the stuff one expects to read in a book on faith.

But as the words go by it becomes apparent that for Lamott, there is little if no separation between her politics, her past experiences, and her religious faith. The author often comes across as neurotic and fragile, and as a person who is frequently buoyed by her beliefs.

Lamott bears all in this slim volume, and while this reviewer generally doesn’t care for writing that so overtly seems to double as therapy for its creator, it’s hard to deny that there are some kernels of wisdom here.

Unfortunately, because this book so often treads into the political, it will be off-putting to those who disagree with the author on that score. Fans of Lamott will cheer and ask for more.