Jonathan Abrams is an American journalist and author whose books concern basketball, television, and music. A graduate of the University of Southern California, he has worked for the Los Angeles Times, Grantland, Bleacher Report, and The New York Times. His sports reporting provides the background to Boys Among Men, a history of basketball players who entered the NBA directly from high school.
First published in 2016, Boys Among Men examines the period from Kevin Garnett’s entry in 1995 through the final draft before the NBA introduced a higher minimum age. Abrams later wrote All the Pieces Matter, an oral history of the television series The Wire, and The Come Up, an oral history of hip-hop. Across these subjects, interviews with participants supply accounts of how careers, institutions, and creative communities developed.
Jonathan Abrams Books
| Book | Year | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Boys Among Men | 2017 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| All the Pieces Matter | 2018 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Come Up | 2022 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
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The basketball book considers a generation whose route into professional competition differed from the customary path through college. Garnett’s decision opened opportunities that other teenagers pursued, with widely varying results. The subject involves development away from the court as well as performance: entering the NBA meant taking on professional expectations while still at an age when most peers remained in school.
Abrams’s subsequent books extend his reporting methods into entertainment history. All the Pieces Matter draws on people who made The Wire rather than presenting only an outside analysis of its themes. The Come Up similarly records the recollections of people involved in hip-hop’s development, including contributors whose experiences predated the extensive online record available to later generations. Each work assembles multiple perspectives on a shared subject.
The later books also preserve a publication sequence distinct from paperback dates. All the Pieces Matter appeared in 2018 before its 2019 paperback, and The Come Up began in 2022 before the 2023 paperback. The publisher’s listing for Boys Among Men likewise records a 2016 digital edition and a 2017 paperback. These are editions of the same works, rather than separate additions to Abrams’s bibliography.
Basketball Books
Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution: Abrams traces the NBA’s prep-to-pro generation, following players who entered professional basketball directly from high school between 1995 and 2005. Kevin Garnett’s decision begins an account that includes stars and players whose careers proved less successful. Interviews examine the opportunities, pressures, and uneven results of allowing teenagers to make the immediate transition to the league. First published in 2016.
Other Books
All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire: Abrams assembles an oral history of The Wire through interviews with actors, writers, directors, and others involved in the television series. The account follows its conception, production, conclusion, and later influence. Participants describe how the drama was made and how its characters and stories developed, providing a record of the collaboration behind the finished episodes. First published in 2018.
The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop: Drawing on more than three hundred interviews conducted over three years, Abrams follows hip-hop from its beginnings in the Bronx through its expansion across the United States. DJs, artists, producers, and executives describe the contributions they witnessed or made. The oral history documents regional developments and the movement’s effects on music, fashion, art, and language. First published in 2022.