Ellsworth's book is primarily a collection of the histories that brought us to the moment in 1944 when the historic secret game occurred. The fact that the game is described in Chapter 19 is a clue to his true focus: where did all these people, and the cultural environment in which they interacted, come from? We learn about James Naismith, Phog Allen, Eddie Cameron, and other figures in the history of hoops, but we also learn about the young men who found their ways to the North Carolina College for Negroes (now NC Central University, one of the sixteen campuses of the University of North Carolina), their young and innovative coach John McLendon, and the team of white Duke medical students who traveled across town to take them on in secret. In learning about their backgrounds, we visit Kansas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and other states, and encounter notables including Pauli Murray, Gerald Ford, and a tomboy named Bess Wallace, who would soon marry Harry Truman.

Ellsworth paints an attractive picture of Hayti, the successful black district of Durham, and a critical picture of the Jim Crow laws and customs that dominated the South. His portrait of Dr. James Shepard, first president of the North Carolina College for Negroes, is ambivalent: Shepard was a known and dedicated non-boat rocker; should he have fought racism more forcefully? Overall, the book is an enjoyable presentation of a little-known event that provides an opportunity to explore the cultural context of the South, particularly North Carolina, in the years leading up to and during WWII. Highly recommended to those with an interest in that history and/or the history of basketball. ( )