Days of Grace - Hardcover

ASHE, Arthur And RAMPERSAD,Arnold.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434033014 ISBN 13: 9780434033010

Publisher: -, 1993

Synopsis

Born in 1943 in Virginia against a backdrop of the civil rights movement and black power struggle, Arthur Ashe discovered tennis - a white man's sport - in the segregated South. Defeating racial prejudice, in 1963 he was representing the US at the Davis Cup matches when the US was exploding with violence over civil rights. He went on to win the US Open in 1968 and the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1975. The same qualities in overcoming the odds with courage and dignity are mirrored in Ashe's more recent ordeal - his battle with a weak heart and subsequently against AIDS, contracted during a blood transfusion while undergoing heart surgery in 1983 before the time that screening of donated blood was compulsory. This memoir describes the triumphs, intrigues, politics and personalities Arthur Ashe encountered in the professional tennis circuit and of the celebrity world in general, from John McEnroe to Robert Kennedy. The book shows how the greatest challenge to Ashe's health is the never-ending burden of racism, and explores the conflicts of enduring a terrible ordeal in the full glare of publicity.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Before reading this book I was aware of Arthur Ashe as only the tennis commentator that got AIDS, but after finishing DAYS OF GRACE, I realized that he was a truely influential figure, and not just in the previously white world of tennis. As an energetic and unselfish crusader for racial and social justice and as a mouthpiece on AIDS issues, this book will show you what an amzing person Ashe was. The world is a worse off place without him in it.

The conclusion of the book, where Ashe writes a letter to his daughter in anticipation of his death, should move even the most cold-hearted of people to tears. It's a shame that there can be no follow up, because I'm sure if Ashe had lived, his actions and thought would've been more than worthy enough to fill another book .

Living in New York, the site of the US Open, has showed me that Ashe's legacy lives on. The charitable works that continue in his name, especially those surrounding the US Open, are a testament to Ashe and to the people who, like him, are committed to a cause. DAYS OF GRACE is not just a memoir by a sports figure, it's a book that teaches us how we might live our lives.

From the Inside Flap:

"Touching and courageous...All of it--the man, the life, the book--is rare and beautiful."
COSMOPOLITAN
DAYS OF GRACE is an inspiring memoir of a remarkable man who was the true embodiment of courage, elegance, and the spirit to fight: Arthur Ashe--tennis champion, social activist, and person with AIDS. Frank, revealing, touching--DAYS OF GRACE is the story of a man felled to soon. It remains as his legacy to us all....
AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB

About this edition

• Publisher: -
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0434033014
• ISBN 13: 9780434033010
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400