The Sweet Summer

by William Kelley

Book Overview

A story of compassion, friendship, and redemption features a white man on an all-black Air Force boxing team in the late 1940s South. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0664222242
• ISBN13: 9780664222246
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

The Sweet Summer

William Kelley's novel, The Sweet Summer is a memorable story of a young airman and ambitious priest Cully Madden. In the summer of 1947, Cully joins an all-black Air Force boxing team. Cully forms deep friendships with his teammates while they are in the South on tour. Cully and his team face many battles inside and outside of the ring. Cully learns many lessons that teach him to understand the origin of the cruelty that allows his friends to live in such a barbaric world he never imagined could have existed. This novel is an account of the friendship of a white man and his black peers in a time that friendships of this kind rarely existed. This book led me on an adventure from a place and time I have never visited. It portrays with harsh honesty how African Americans suffered in the post World War II era. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a novel full of courage, friendship, honor, compassion and heroism.

The Sweet Summer

This book is a poignant and brutal story of a white man on an all black Air Force boxing team. The late 40s Deep South settings of flop houses, make-shift boxing rings, and swamp shanties make you almost feel the humidity in the air and know the desperation of men determined to win at all costs. I highly recommend this beautiful book by the writer who won an Academy Award for co-writing Witness.

william kelley creates spellbinding novel

MR. KELLEY CREATES A SPELLBINDING NOVEL ABOUT A WHITE MAN ON A BLACK MILITARY BOXING TEAM, TRAVELING THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH IN THE POST WORLD WAR II ERA/ THIS BOOK, WRITTEN FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE I AM SURE, KEPT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY CHAIR AND I WAS UNABLE TO PUT IT DOWN. I LAUGHED, CRIED AND CRINGED AS MR. KELLEY LED ME ON THE TRAIL OF AN ADVENTURE FROM A TIME AND PLACE I HAD NEVER VISITED. IT IS A NOVEL THAT MUST NOT BE MISSED. MR. KELLEYS KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE SOUTH REMINDS ME OF FAULKNER.I AM SURE THIS STORY WILL SOON APPEAR ON THE BIG SCREEN. THIS STORY IS IN THE SAME CLASS AS MR. KELLEYS ACADEMY AWARD WINNING SCREENPLAY "WITNESS". DONT MISS OUT, BUY IT TODAY!