"This unprecedented collection of personal memoir includes stories written by dozens of native Bronxites, as well as by those who've arrived from the Dominican Republic, Maryland, USA, and Italy, who've worked hard to reinvent their lives. This revealing anthology is brought to you by BCA Media, a new publishing platform created by the Bronx Council on the Arts."--Back cover, volume 1.

The Bronx Memoir Project, sponsored by the Bronx Council on the Arts, is a popular workshop series that inspires Bronxites of all walks of life to write about their experiences in The Bronx. Open to professional and avocational writers alike, this workshop series produces a collection of works that touches on an array of topics and piques the curiosities of avid memoir readers. We hope you enjoy reading this third volume of the Bronx Memoir Project anthology series.

The Rat That Got Away is an inspiring story of one man's odyssey from the streets of the Bronx to a life as a professional athlete and banker in Europe, but it is also provides a unique vantage point on the history of the Bronx and sheds new light on a neglected period in American urban history. Allen Jones grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx at a time--the 1950s--when that neighborhood was a place of optimism and hope for upwardly mobile Black and Latino families. Brought up in a two-parent household, with many neighborhood mentors, Jones led an almost charmed life as a budding basketball star until his teen years, when his once peaceful neighborhood was torn by job losses, white flight, and a crippling drug epidemic. Drawn into the heroin trade, first as a user, then as a dealer, Jones spent four months on Rikers Island, where he experienced a crisis of conscience and a determination to turn his life around. Sent to a New England prep school upon his release, Jones used his basketball skills and street smarts to forge a life outside the Bronx, first as a college athlete in the South, then as a professional basketball player, radio personality, and banker in Europe. A brilliant storyteller with a gift for dialogue, Jones brings Bronx streets and housing projects to life as places of possibility as well as tragedy, where racism and economic hardship never completely suppressed the resilient spirit of its residents. A book that will change the way people view the South Bronx.

One man’s “gripping” story of growing up in the South Bronx during an era of upheaval—and overcoming addiction to find success (Library Journal). Allen Jones grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx at a time—the 1950s—when that neighborhood was a place of optimism and hope for upwardly mobile Black and Latino families. Brought up in a two-parent household, with many neighborhood mentors, Jones led an almost charmed life as a budding basketball star—until his teen years, when his once peaceful neighborhood was torn by job losses, white flight, and a crippling drug epidemic. Drawn into the heroin trade, first as a user, then as a dealer, Jones spent four months on Rikers Island, where he experienced a crisis of conscience and a determination to turn his life around. Sent to a New England prep school upon his release, Jones used his skills and street smarts to forge a life outside the Bronx, first as a college athlete in the South, then as a professional basketball player, radio personality, and banker in Europe. In this memoir, he brings Bronx streets and housing projects to life as places of possibility as well as tragedy—where racism and economic hardship never completely suppressed the resilient spirit of the residents. “Paints an earthy picture of the neighborhood in the 1950s, when the projects were home to working-class black and Latino families who pushed their children to excel, through the 1970s.” —The New York Times

"Eschewing sappiness in favor of sparse but vivid prose, McSherry documents his first few decades with four siblings, very little money, and two parents whose respective mental illnesses intensified as the years progress Although his story is certainly unique, McSherry's book has much to say about the nobility and struggle that characterize every individual life. A deeply affecting, surprisingly unsentimental description of surviving-and transcending-a tumultuous upbringing." -Kirkus Discoveries "To say McSherry has lived a 'hard knock' life is an understatement, but the Lehman High School teacher and Brio Award winner has crafted a Bronx version of Angela's Ashes that resonates with hope, wit, and perseverance." -Derek Woods, host of the television program, Bronx Magazine

The words of Bronx Rhapsody move to the beat of Maria Meli's heart and the wrenching of her core. In her poems, one senses her relief and ecstasy for having been able to let go. She takes us on a long journey, one that sings of her beginnings within the household of her immigrant family, enclosed by its traditions in its bucolic Bronx setting.