Before reading this book I was aware of Arthur Ashe as only the tennis commentator that got AIDS, but after finishing DAYS OF GRACE, I realized that he was a truely influential figure, and not just in the previously white world of tennis. As an energetic and unselfish crusader for racial and social justice and as a mouthpiece on AIDS issues, this book will show you what an amzing person Ashe was. The world is a worse off place without him in it.
The conclusion of the book, where Ashe writes a letter to his daughter in anticipation of his death, should move even the most cold-hearted of people to tears. It’s a shame that there can be no follow up, because I’m sure if Ashe had lived, his actions and thought would’ve been more than worthy enough to fill another book .
Living in New York, the site of the US Open, has showed me that Ashe’s legacy lives on. The charitable works that continue in his name, especially those surrounding the US Open, are a testament to Ashe and to the people who, like him, are committed to a cause. DAYS OF GRACE is not just a memoir by a sports figure, it’s a book that teaches us how we might live our lives.
