An intimate memoir about race, fatherhood, and basketball, from former NBA player and outspoken cultural critic, Kendrick "Perk" Perkins.
Kendrick “Perk” Perkins is known for his blunt commentary on ESPN’s most popular shows. As a fourteen year NBA player and starting center for the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics, Perk earned a reputation as a fierce defender and great teammate. In this powerful memoir, he goes beyond basketball to discuss the reality of being Black in America.
Abandoned by his father and orphaned after the murder of his mother, Perk was raised by his grandparents in Texas. He left home at age eighteen, drafted by the legendary Celtics. Boston was a completely new world, and Perk learned how to play with and against NBA stars like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, while adjusting to life as a professional athlete.
But his education went beyond basketball. In this book, Perk reveals his awakening consciousness of larger issues that affected him, his fellow players, and Black Americans:
—How many NBA players grow up in broken families
—The history of slavery and how that trauma affects generations of Black life
—The truths told by writers including James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright
—The false myths about the Black family and fatherhood
—Why George Floyd’s murder forced a reckoning about race in America
Honest, fearless, filled with stories about life on and off the court, The Education of Kendrick Perkins is a unique memoir that shows how he and we all can “carry the hell on.”
The Education of Kendrick Perkins Audiobook on Libro.fm
"Kendrick Perkins is the bold and educational voice we need today. Every single word he speaks will challenge, enlighten and encourage you to become a better version of yourself and see a better version of the world. Perkins' riveting stories about the NBA, his upbringing and social justice will make this ... impossible to put down." —Emmanuel...
