Red Auerbach, one of the greatest coaches in sports history, died on October 28, 2006. Bill Russell, the star center on the Auerbach teams that won eleven championships in thirteen years, said little in public at the time. His relationship with his coach had been so deeply personal that he could not express it with a brief comment.

Auerbach and Russell—one a short, brash Jew from Brooklyn; the other a tall, intense African-American from Louisiana and Oakland—were far more than just coach and player. Through thirteen years of building a sports dynasty together, one that remains among the greatest of all time, their relationship evolved into a rare example of deep male friendship: confident, supportive, understanding, founded in common goals, even as their feelings remained largely unspoken.

Red and Me is an extraordinary book: an homage to a peerless coach; an inspiring story of mutual success; and perhaps the best depiction of male friendship ever put on the page.