“In a magnificently reported, nuanced but raw account of basketball and racism in the South during the 1960s, Andrew Maraniss tells the story of Perry Wallace’s struggle, loneliness, perseverance and eventual self-realization. A rare story about physical and intellectual courage that is both shocking and triumphant.”
BOB WOODWARD, Washington Post associate editor and author
“I covered basketball during the years Perry Wallace was at Vanderbilt, learning first-hand the stories of so many African-American athletes. Many of them were pioneers in one respect or another, but none whom I ever spoke with endured such an experience as did Wallace –– as related so thoughtfully and comprehensively in this sensitive biography by Andrew Maraniss. Arthur Ashe entitled his history of the black athlete A Hard Road To Glory. No road could have been harder than Perry Wallace’s, no glory more satisfying.”
FRANK DEFORD, Sports Illustrated/NPR
“Andrew Maraniss has written a gripping account of the tortured ordeal suffered by Perry Wallace, the celebrated college basketball star, who, in 1966, as a Vanderbilt Commodore, broke the racial color barrier in the Southeastern Conference. It is a story of a young black student’s courage in the face of taunting abuse from hostile, opposing fans – and the dissension that faced him on the Vanderbilt campus.”
JOHN SEIGENTHALER, Tennessean Editor Emeritus
“What Perry Wallace accomplished in breaking the color line in the Southeastern Conference has been one of the great untold stories of the last 50 years. Now, thanks to Andrew Maraniss and Professor Wallace, it has become one of the great TOLD stories of the last 50 years with this unforgettable book.”
JOHN FEINSTEIN, Best-Selling author
“Andrew Maraniss’ father, David, once said, ‘History writes people out of the story. It’s our job to write them back in.’ In the case of Perry Wallace, Andrew has done that superbly. He writes with equal ability of race and class, talent and ambition and the possibilities and limits of each. I did not know Perry Wallace’s story. Andrew has brought it to us, and we should be happy he did.”
HOWARD BRYANT, ESPN The Magazine
“A dark but finally inspiring story that can now be told in perspective, and Maraniss tells it thoroughly well.” ROY BLOUNT JR., Best-Selling author
“It is at the dawn of a tumultuous era that Andrew Maraniss sets Strong Inside, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.” SHERMAN JOHNSON, SLAM Magazine
“Strong Inside is superbly written, hard to put down and fascinating for sports fans and non-sports fans alike.” BookPage
“In Strong Inside, Andrew Maraniss does a fine and thorough job of telling Perry Wallace’s important and compelling story.” BILL LITTLEFIELD, NPR
“Brings to life the Civil Rights struggle in gripping, personal detail.” SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
“A richly detailed, intimate account of the experiences of Wallace and the generation of African-American students who blazed the trail for integrated higher education.” THE NATIONAL MEMO