To Arthur Agee and William Gates, basketball means literally everything. Their only escape from the grim streets of Chicago's West Side is onto the neighborhood courts, where they and their friends dream of playing in the NBA. For most it's just a forlorn hope, but Arthur and William are different: barely out of grade school, they already display the raw potential that just might make their dreams come true.Hoop Dreams began as a documentary film that tracked these two young men for almost five years as they struggled to turn their playground skills into the kind of basketball mastery that could earn them college scholarships - and maybe even a place in the pros. Critics from coast to coast hailed the film as one of the finest documentaries ever made, both a superb portrait of two gifted teenagers working their way through the tough, often cruel basketball machine, and a searing look at the harsh realities of inner-city life.In this remarkable book, award-winning journalist Ben Joravsky chronicles Arthur and William's battle to reach the top and tells the story that could not be told on film. His vivid prose evokes the experience of being plucked from the projects and offered a glittering future. He captures not only the moments of basketball glory at suburban St. Joseph High School, which produced superstar Isiah Thomas, but also the loneliness of being poor and black in an affluent, mostly white school and the overwhelming pressure to perform both on the court and in the classroom. Read Less