STATE: 2019 Best Books Lists 

New York Times &
Los Angeles Times

STATE

A Team, a Triumph, a Transformation
This story is about one group of girls sitting innocently at a monumental place in our nation's history. ... it is about the sheer joy of getting our first uniforms, packing the same school gym where we were once not allowed to practice, and gaining access to life lessons previously only available to boys.

                                 Watch STATE on the TODAY show!

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“In STATE, Melissa Isaacson perfectly captures the birth of Title IX and a time when high school girls were starting to gain equality in sports and in the classroom, showing us how opportunities on the court can light a path for girls to become their authentic selves in all aspects of their lives.”
- Billie Jean King,  tennis champion and activist


Available at the following online bookstores:


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It is about a hunger so insatiable, setbacks so painful, and a triumph so sweet that it altered the course of our lives.

praise for "STATE"

  • Melissa covered the Bulls for the Chicago Tribune when I played in the NBA and we had many discussions about our love of basketball. The topic of her high school state title-winning team came up now and then, and I knew she was proud of it. But not until now, after reading her fantastic book, did I realize HOW much basketball meant to her. This is a beautiful story of basketball and life.”

  • “You’ve probably never heard of the 1975 Niles West High School girls’ basketball team. But theirs is a terrific story, and as fate would have it, their point guard, Missy Isaacson, went on to become a superb writer.

    If you love sports, you’ll love her fascinating, moving, funny, and richly reported account of how her team finally won state.”

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STATE prologue

“You need to talk to him,” the hospice nurse was saying. “You need to give him permission to die.” 

It wasn’t the first time she had told me this over the last couple of days, but I wasn’t exactly itching to do whatever it was she was suggesting. 

 “Sometimes, for reasons that are unclear, people in their last days hold onto life against all reason,” she explained. “You need to tell him it’s OK to go.”

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