Most know people from Milwaukee because they left: Oprah, Gene Wilder, Liberace. Milwaukee is too small to be a global hub, yet it's too big to be idyllic. Good things happen there-great things don't. Ben McCormick left it full of promise for writing grad school and in 2021 sulked to Oregon with no great novel or acclaim. And in the first six weeks his live-in relationship imploded, his first niece was born back home, and he witnessed Milwaukee's great thing: the Milwaukee Bucks's NBA title. Told through each playoff game, McCormick's sprint of a lyrical memoir is about the alchemy of emotions and fandom, aging into someone we didn't plan to be, and returning to a Midwest that makes us, breaks us, and makes us all over again. "Ben does a beautiful job showing how something as simple as sports can bring you closer to home even when you're half a country away. In the Room at the Top of the World finds the humor, joy, and grit of the Midwest, but the soul of the book will hit any heart away from home." -Charlie Berens, comedian & New York Times Bestselling Author "Heartfelt, lyrical . . . a book about a man learning to accept himself and the flawed world around him and it reads like a Giannis Antetokounmpo fast break slam dunk-you'll race right through it and hope that McCormick has another project publishing sooner rather than later." -Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and A Forty Year Kiss "Even if McCormick's experiences in the summer of '21 don't mirror yours, they're compelling, and they helped stir up my memories-from watching 'The Valley Oop' in a crowded bar to processing Giannis' devastating injury and immaculate recovery to seeing post-pandemic Milwaukee coming together to celebrate our long-awaited moment in the sun-when the city was at the center of the sports universe." -Tyler Maas, co-founder and editor of Milwaukee Record "Readers are sure to be dazzled by the leaps and connections McCormick makes as he moves from sport to personal identity to ideas of home." -LARRY WATSON, author of The Lives of Edie Pritchard Ben McCormick was born in Wisconsin and now lives in Portland, Oregon. He earned an MFA at Texas State University, and his writing has appeared in places like Ploughshares Blog, Harvard Review Online, The Pinch, and Passages North. He's watched every Bucks game for the last seven seasons and is a lifelong fan.