Biography & True Story Books:

The Rat That Got Away

A Bronx Memoir
Click to share your rating 0 ratings (0.0/5.0 average) Thanks for your vote!

Format:

Hardback
$132.99
RRP:
$150.95 save $17.96
Available from supplier

The item is brand new and in-stock with one of our preferred suppliers. The item will ship from a Mighty Ape warehouse within the timeframe shown.

Usually ships in 2-3 weeks

Buy Now, Pay Later with:

4 payments of $33.25 with Afterpay Learn more

Availability

Delivering to:

Estimated arrival:

  • Around 8-20 May using International Courier

Description

The Rat That Got Away is an inspiring story of one man’s odyssey from the streets of the Bronx to a life as a professional athlete and banker in Europe, but it is also provides a unique vantage point on the history of the Bronx and sheds new light on a neglected period in American urban history. Allen Jones grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx at a time—the 1950s—when that neighborhood was a place of optimism and hope for upwardly mobile Black and Latino families. Brought up in a two-parent household, with many neighborhood mentors, Jones led an almost charmed life as a budding basketball star until his teen years, when his once peaceful neighborhood was torn by job losses, white flight, and a crippling drug epidemic. Drawn into the heroin trade, first as a user, then as a dealer, Jones spent four months on Rikers Island, where he experienced a crisis of conscience and a determination to turn his life around. Sent to a New England prep school upon his release, Jones used his basketball skills and street smarts to forge a life outside the Bronx, first as a college athlete in the South, then as a professional basketball player, radio personality, and banker in Europe. A brilliant storyteller with a gift for dialogue, Jones brings Bronx streets and housing projects to life as places of possibility as well as tragedy, where racism and economic hardship never completely suppressed the resilient spirit of its residents. A book that will change the way people view the South Bronx.

Author Biography:

Allen Jones, born in the Bronx, is a manager for foreign currency exchange at Dexia Banque Internationale at Luxembourg. Mark D. Naison is Professor of History and African American Studies at Fordham University, where he also directs the Bronx African American History Project. He is the author of three books, including Communists in Harlem During the Depression.
Release date Australia
September 1st, 2009
Author
Contributor
  • With Mark D. Naison
Pages
224
Audience
  • General (US: Trade)
Dimensions
161x231x20
ISBN-13
9780823231027
Product ID
3750210

Customer reviews

Nobody has reviewed this product yet. You could be the first!

Write a Review

Marketplace listings

There are no Marketplace listings available for this product currently.
Already own it? Create a free listing and pay just 9% commission when it sells!

Sell Yours Here

Help & options

Filed under...