A Washington Post Best Book of the Year
A Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist
Ohioana Award Winner
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence
A Booklist Editors’ Choice Book of the Year
A Hooks National Book Award Finalist
A Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee
“A haunting, unforgettable book.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Dramatic, memorable, triumphant and heartbreaking. . . . Tigerland is about more than sports. Sports provides a plot line and characters for a conversation about race in America.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Highly readable. . . . [Haygood] brings meticulous reporting and vivid writing to this largely forgotten story.” —The Washington Post
“Factoids coalesce to produce a vivid sense of the community’s deep identification with its sports team.” —The New Yorker
“An uplifting story. . . . [Filled with] rich detail about the city and the school. . . . [Haygood’s] forays into the minutiae of life in Columbus give the book depth and texture.” —The New York Times Book Review
“[Tigerland] cries out for a movie adaptation. . . . Haygood offers a vivid sense of the African-American community of East Columbus—the parents, pastors and local businessmen who cheered the Tigers on to victory.” —Newsday
“Dynamic, multidimensional, and heart-revving. . . . As in all his avidly read books, Haygood sets the stories of fascinating individuals within the context of freshly reclaimed and vigorously recounted African American history as he masterfully brings a high school and its community to life. This laugh-and-cry tale of rollicking and wrenching drama . . . is electric with tension and conviction, and incandescent with unity and hope.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The blood beats in Haygood’s latest book. . . . It is well-told history. It lends to a better understanding of who we are and where we live.” —Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch
“Haygood executes a series of historical fadeaway jump shots, taking us back for extended interludes with the likes of Rev. King, Jackie Robinson, federal Judge Bobby Duncan . . . and other civil rights catalysts.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“[Haygood] has gifted the reading public with a book about a defining moment in America. . . . [Tigerland] is in keeping with Haygood’s style of well-written prose, allowing the characters to speak for themselves, and placing the reader as a participant in the book rather than an observer.” —Decatur Daily
“An engrossing tale of one shining moment in dark times. . . . Haygood dramatically renders the heady excitement of each game, the tense moments of a close contest, and the exuberant—tear-jerking—wins.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“In the supremely talented hands of Haygood, the Tigers of an all-black Columbus, Ohio, school prove to be an ideal way of understanding [a] fraught time.” —The National Book Review
“Haygood’s look at the socially turbulent atmosphere [of 1968-69], told from the perspective of a black man coming of age at the time, is nationally relevant.” —Nancy Gilson, The Columbus Dispatch
“[An] intense sports saga. . . . Haygood is a passionate storyteller as he expertly captures this period of civil unrest” —Publishers Weekly
“With Tigerland, Haygood is shining a light on [a] story long in the shadows: teenage athletes who brought unity to their community through the power of sports.” —Toledo Blade
“Inspiring. . . . Haygood tells the story of an amazing group.” —CBC
