Land of Second Chances: The Impossible Rise of Rwanda's Cycling Team - Softcover

Lewis, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0224091778 ISBN 13: 9780224091770

Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press, 2014

Synopsis

The astonishing true story of the Rwandan Cycling Team.
     
Where there is hope there can be redemption.

Meet Adrien Niyonshuti, a member of the Rwandan cycling team. Adrien was seven years old when he lost his family in the 1994 genocide that tore Rwanda apart. Almost twenty years later he has a shot at representing his country at the Olympics.

Meet Jock Boyer, the coach of Team Rwanda. One of the top American cyclists of all time, Jock recognises the innate talent for endurance that the Rwandans possess. A man with a dark past, Jock is in need of a second chance.

Meet Tom Ritchey, the visionary inventor of the mountain bike and the U.S. money man looking to recover from a profound personal crisis.

In The Land of Second Chances, Tim Lewis charts the incredible true story of the Rwandan cycling team as they overcome impossible odds to inspire a nation.

About this title

From the Back Cover

RECONCILIATION.

REDEMPTION.

A NEW PLACE IN THE WORLD.

Two decades after the bloody genocide that tore Rwanda apart, this tiny African nation remains haunted by its dark past. Yet modern Rwanda, a landlocked country dropped like a pebble on the equator, is a lush and beautiful land fertile with hope and desperate for heroes who can help it forge a new identity.

"Hero" is a heavy burden to lay on the slim shoulders of Adrien Niyonshuti, who lost six members of his family to the genocide when he was seven years old. But the young cyclist now carries the weight of his country's expectations as he competes for a slot at the London Olympics. Supporting Adrien is his coach, Jonathan Boyer, the first American to race in the Tour de France and a controversial figure whose plans for a reborn Rwanda may lie second to his own need for a new start.

Also present: Tom Ritchey, a mountain bike pioneer who comes to Rwanda with a vision but who is bedeviled by a personal crisis that threatens to undo his good work. And President Paul Kagame, piecing together an egalitarian future for his country but all too susceptible to the corruption of power.

Startling, humorous, sobering, enchanting--Land of Second Chances is a brilliantly told chronicle of struggle, hope, and difficult moral choices for a country in search of the life-giving promise of redemption.

About the Author

TIM LEWIS is a feature writer at the Observer and contributing editor of Esquire. He has previously been editor of both the Observer Magazine and Observer Sport Monthly, Britain's most prestigious sports magazine. Prior to that he was editor of the Independent on Sunday's Sunday Review and deputy editor of Esquire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0224091778
• ISBN 13: 9780224091770
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304