Swap Book: The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn

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The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn

Harper Perennial, 1987
Paperback, 480 pages
edition: Reissue
isbn: 0060914165

value: 17 credits
condition: as new, Very good condition

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owner: Brookeworm

"At a point in life when one is through with boyhood, but has not yet discovered how to be a man, it was my fortune to travel with the most marvelously appealing of teams." Sentimental because it holds such promise, and bittersweet because that promise is past, the first sentence of this masterpiece of sporting literature, first published in the early '70s, sets its tone. What follows only gets better, deeper, more sentimental, and more bittersweet. The team, of course, is the mid-20th-century Brooklyn Dodgers, the team of Robinson and Snyder and Hodges and Reese, a team of great triumph and historical import composed of men whose fragile lives were filled with dignity and pathos. Roger Kahn, who covered that team for the New York Herald Tribune, makes understandable humans of his heroes as he chronicles the dreams and exploits of their young lives, beautifully intertwining them with his own, then recounts how so many of those sweet dreams curdled as the body of these once shining stars grew rusty with age and battered by experience. It is the rare sports book that cannot be contained by the limitations of its genre; it is equal parts journalism, memoir, social history, and poetry.


	1 free copy available available new from $4.75 + shipping more reviews at librarything The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn Baseball : Essays & Writings Baseball : Essays & Writings Baseball : History Baseball : History History : Social & Economic History Review: Some sports lend themselves to quality writing. In the UK the finest prose is almost always devoted to cricket. Perhaps it's the slow pace,allowing contemplation, punctuated by bursts of intense action, or its historical link to some pastoral England which may or may not have existed. . Baseball is similarly blessed in the USA,and Kahn's book with its thoughtful ,insightful and moving style, its unashamed and autobiographical content, and its warts and all description of the struggles of black athletes for acceptance in 1950s America, is outstanding. Its greatest triumph, though, is the obvious love and respect that the author has not only for the game but also those flawed and complex characters who played it. The book glows with this warmth, as it follows the mixed fortunes of the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers some 20 years later. Review: This is a very sad story of how fate conspired to rob a team of the success they deserved and then dealt so cruelly with many of the players in their later lives. The story of the seasons Kahn spent with the team is absorbing. The stories of his meetings with them many years later are moving. The book is brilliantly written. It is about sport but more about the struggles of mankind. An undoubted 5 stars. Review: If you are expecting an insightful potrait of baseball in 1950's Brooklyn look elsewhere. What this book delivers instead is a re-heated version of "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." The author is so self-absorbed that any baseball lore one may find in the book must be washed down with a large dose of his syrupy personal saga. Along the way Kahn manages to drain all the vitality out of baseball and replace it with warm tapioca pudding. Review: There's no sugarcoating of the Jackie Robinson Dodgers in this story. We see them in full, pioneers, bigots, fathers and husbands. The way that they have survived the changes in their lives says far more about their character than any penny-ante poem or polemic. Kahn lived and worked with these men for two years, and his achievement is that he makes us feel that we knew them as well as he did. Review: The "Boys of Summer" is a fascinating book. Roger Kahn vividly descibes his days with the likes of Robinson, Reese, Durocher, Labine, Erskine, Cox,Black, Campenella. Review: I still have my original paperback copy of this. A superb book. What I wouldn't have given to be able to watch played at Ebbets Field. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the most courageous ballplayer that ever was.The abuse that he took was tolerated, for the most part.The fact that he silently took it,and never retaliated.Being sold to the Giants at the end of 1956,was probably initiated by Alston,whom he never really got along with,anyway.For all of the revelations that ballplayers then drank,cheated on their wives,dirty-played---that hasn't changed.They were paid badly,are badly overpaid today,the wiping out of the Reserve Clause has caused a downward spiral of dilution of talent,the overall greediness of both players and owners-one could not pay me to sit through a game today.People today tend to forget that it wasn't cheap to go to a game in 1963.The average workingman could afford maybe a game or two, during the season.So,to spend well over $100.00 just to attend one night game?? Nope...The strike in 1994 did me in,for good. Review: From 1941`1956 The Brooklyn Dodgers were the best team in the National league. The 1952 season is the main season which is good since the 1952 seris was the best. The history part is interesting the way things change between Roger Khans first trip to Ebbets feild and the last game there. Roger Khan is a good story teller his retelling of games and the part where he goes to see the players years later is the best ive read it says a lot about us all. Review: This book is quite enjoyable. There is a bit too much on personal information about the Brooklyn Dodgers. The historical parts are better. Review: this is NOT a book about baseball. i guess that's a bit misleading, because it does have a lot to do WITH baseball, but no, that's not what this book is ultimately about. this book is about courage, love, hate, determination, gratitude, loss, rebirth, frustration, jubilation, segregation, acceptance, family. i could go on. at it's core, it's a book about life. and if you pass this one by, you are missing a real treat.