Uphill: A Memoir

ESPN correspondent Hill traces her turbulent rise to success in her poignant debut. In 2017, scandal broke after Hill tweeted that President Trump was a “white supremacist.” Though she was bombarded with threats and nearly lost her job as a SportsCenter host (after a two-week suspension without pay), Hill stood her ground. “I was keenly aware that a deeper and larger struggle was taking place in this country,” she writes. “Black people were fighting every damn day for survival, freedom, and empowerment.” To understand her place in that struggle, Hill evocatively details her childhood in 1970s Detroit, where poverty, absence, addiction, and abuse abounded in her immediate family. Escape came in the form of a diary as she grew to love writing and found her voice. As Hill became an adult, she faced a new set of challenges—from juggling relationships and jobs to managing the scandal that, she writes, “blew my life up.” Still, Hill remained confident and steadfast in her beliefs, bolstered by a lifetime of overcoming obstacles, and her account brims with intelligence and resilience. The result is a powerful portrait of ambition, faith, and fearlessness. (Oct.)