No One's Coming to Save You: The Escape of David Rhoiney

"David Rhoiney has no hope. Abandoned by his father, he fights to become the man his manic-depressive mother needs. But he is just a kid, and his world is collapsing. Compton, Oakland, Long Beach: no matter where they turn, fear and hunger wait. Weeks in a homeless shelter turn to months. Bullets fly. Blank-faced men in overalls drag his screaming mother away. Through it all, he can only watch. No one is coming to save him. But he can save himself. A chance encounter with basketball sets him on an unlikely path, one that takes this kid from Compton to the arcane rituals and ruthless competition of the Naval Academy and Division I sports; to national intelligence and the humid paranoia of Guantanamo Bay; and ultimately to the operating room, where he can finally become the man his family needs. But who, and what, does David lose along the way? Even after escaping poverty, what does it take to truly be free? In this gritty, unconventional biography, Ed William recounts Davids story in stark, uncompromising prose, reliving his fight to achieve success and security beyond that scared, broken little boy's wildest imagination. No one's coming to save you is a searing portrayal of urban poverty and relentless reinvention in the face of staggering odds ? a testament to what it takes to save yourself"--