Brothers on Three

Celadon Books
Paperback
384 pages • $19.99
ISBN: 9781250210692

A True Story of Family, Resistance, and Hope on a Reservation in Montana

Abe Streep

“Streep draws out the adolescent boys—no small feat—and writes evocatively about their community, their dreams beyond their tiny town and the pull that keeps them close. What emerges is an immersive portrait of a small tribal town where shared history runs deep, opportunity feels elusive, and basketball is a visceral expression of collective pride, hope and grit that Streep says sits ‘somewhere between escape and religion.’”

—Sam Dolnick, The New York Times

March 11, 2017, was a night to remember: in front of the hopeful eyes of thousands of friends, family members, and fans, the Arlee Warriors would finally bring the high school basketball state championship title home to the Flathead Indian Reservation. The game would become the stuff of legend, with the boys revered as local heroes. The team’s place in Montana history was now cemented, but for starters Will Mesteth Jr. and Phillip Malatare, life would keep moving on—senior year was just beginning. In Brothers on Three, we follow Phil and Will, along with their teammates, coaches, and families, as they balance the pressures of adolescence, shoulder the dreams of their community, and chart their own individual courses for the future. Brothers on Three is not simply a story about high school basketball, state championships, and a winning team. It is a book about community, and it is about boys on the cusp of adulthood finding their way through the intersecting worlds they inhabit and forging their own paths to personhood.

Abe Streep has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Outside, The California Sunday Magazine, Wired, The Columbia Journalism Review, and Harper’s Magazine. His writing has been anthologized in Best American Sports Writing; and noted by Best American Essays; and Best American Science and Nature Writing. He was a recipient of the 2019 American Mosaic Journalism Prize for deep reporting on underrepresented communities.