Jonathan Coleman - West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life

New York TimesLos Angeles Times (#1)

USA TodayPublishers Weekly

Anyone who follows basketball knows that Jerry West was a supreme athlete and a brilliant general manager. What I did not know until reading this powerful book was just how complex he is. West by West is a rounded, honest, and moving exploration not just of Wests life under the arena spotlights, but of his passages through his darkest hours. With remarkable clarity and courage, West explores his flaws and ghosts, his glory on the court and his struggles off. Paralyzed and haunted by his childhood, this was a superstar who, at the top of his game, could not escape the feeling that he belonged at the bottom. Few would have the courage to look so deeply into the mirror, but in this exceptional book, West has done so.

Gay Talese, author of A Writers Life

What really struck me was that this man did not need to do the difficult work in healing himself that he has done in this book. This is nothing short of amazing courage.

Anne Phillips, Huffington Post

Jerry West looks deep into the mirror. Still pursued by his demons at age seventy-three, he reintroduces himself as flesh, blood, and anguish in West by West, going past the point where the cheers fade and sports books end to pose a question that rarely comes up: What is it all worth? West is an object lesson in the price of success.

Mark Heisler, New York Times

Deeply thoughtful in a way rare among books by former athletes. During a bout of sleeplessnessthe book is as much about depression, self-doubt, and insomnia as it is about basketballWest gives his mind over to the construction of the perfect game, played by two rosters built from the best players across the years. He dreams with the gusto of a boy, imagining the precise and improbable conditions of a world wherein anything is possible.

Ian Crouch, The New Yorker

Apart from being an unquestionably successful, uncommonly admired human being, Jerry West is a man traveling with a lot of demons. Pick up a copy of this brutally candid account of his life and you will understand him quite a bit better.

Mike Downey, Los Angeles Times Book Review

His silhouette image has long been the NBAs logoa fitting symbol for a revered, enigmatic, and deeply private sports icon. But in this book, with unflinching candor and in remarkable detail, Jerry West emerges proudly and boldly from the shadows of his own life.

James S. Hirsch, author of Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend

A great read. This is a very insightful book about one of the greatest basketball players and minds that has ever been involved with the game. You can finally get to understand the man and not have to guess what was going on inside his head. Hes very forthcoming and candid about all of the ups and downs of his whole lifenot just his basketball careerand he pulls no punches.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

An authentic expression of a certain kind of tortured American masculinity.

Dwight Garner, New York Times

Gets credit for candor, even courage. Like an Arctic explorer or combat officer, hes lived in a world that most of us never even glimpse. Intriguing.

Steven V. Roberts, Washington Post

Wests account is harrowingly honest, and it pulls the skin off an already notoriously thin-skinned individual. West could handle a basketball like nobodys business, but as West by West makes clear, handling his own emotions and insecurities was a far more daunting challenge.

Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune

A searing, searching autobiography. Very compelling. Its like West taking Tony Sopranos chair in Dr. Melfis office, and explaining every detail of the most famous career in NBA player-exec history (but with a moral barometer). Its like listening to van Gogh talk about why he painted what he did, and why he pissed off who he did and which ones he regrets and which ones he doesnt.