Jemele Hill--a longtime sportswriter, former SportsCenter anchor and current staff writer at the Atlantic--brings readers Uphill, a memoir that captures her journey, without ever compromising her principles, to the highest echelons of her profession, even in the face of criticism from a former president of the United States and, perhaps more terrifyingly, her mother. A Black woman raised by a single mother in Detroit, Hill grew up with a keen awareness of the failures of this country and the challenges it presented to her. She was clear-eyed, undaunted and driven by an indefatigable desire to succeed.
Hill is a skilled writer with a sharp eye for salient details and a master of sharp turns of phrase. She possesses great aptitude for in-depth character development and analysis. Powering these refined skills is a gregarious spirit and genuine wisdom. The effect is instant trust between her and her readers, which is essential for any memoir, and assurance that what is being told is the unvarnished truth.
Mercifully, not all truths are hard and solemn: Hill revels in joy and laughter. Uphill is shot through with witticisms, hilarious anecdotes and zany encounters. And she refuses to sugar-coat what it took to work her way up as a Black woman in the fiercely competitive, predominantly white and male world of sports journalism. But with its compelling stories--the "inside baseball" from a long career in sports media, told with great candor, thoughtful soul-searching and a sense of humor--Uphill brings insight and laughter to nearly every page. --Walker Minot, freelance writer and editor