Fascinating, although idiosyncratic, look at one of baseball's great periods

books:


	• The Era, 1947-1957: When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World Roger Kahn Bison Books, 2002 - 382 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Era

My husband is an "old" Brooklyn Dodger fan who loves everything Roger Kahn writes, so I thought this was the perfect Christmas gift...until he opened it and told me he had already read it!!! I was disappointed until he told me he had read it a couple of years ago and would read it again because he enjoyed it so much the first time. Christmas saved.

Excellent book. Another strong effort from Kahn

Roger Kahn has written numerous books (according to his most recent offering "Beyond the Boys of Summer" he has written nineteen). Seemingly all of them have been praised and this one is no exception. Being a huge baseball (in particular the Yankees) fan and student of the game's history, this book is fantastic. Kahn brilliantly weaves his personal history in with the year-by-year accounts of baseball in New York. In the book, he claims The Era of 1947-1957 is the greatest in baseball history. While that can be debated, there is no denying that his expansive knowledge of this time greatly aids the book. The antics of Leo Durocher and Casey Stengel are featured prominently, as is the struggle of Jackie Robinson to gain acceptance among his peers and fans. The paperback features a brief four-page afterword discussing what has happened in baseball since the book's release in 1993. Overall, a great read and highly recommended.

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gift for my baseball fan husband

I got this for my husband who only reads sports books and mostly baseball at that. He said he hadn't liked other books by this author but proceeded to plow through this book and really enjoyed it. I picked it because it featured some stories about Willie Mays - his all time favorite.
I'd say give it a try for your sports/baseball fan.

Fascinating, although idiosyncratic, look at one of baseball's great periods

The Era is a wonderfully written account of New York's three baseball teams from 1947-1957. It provides strong coverage of that period's most important events and puts you into a box seat (no skyboxes then) for the most thrilling moments of that decade. Even though you know the outcome of the games, Kahn's writing leaves you on the edge of your seat.

In short, Kahn provides a strong narrative of the period's most important events and portraits of its most important personalities, but is uneven when recounting the seasons the book purports to cover.

Kahn is strongest on a few topics, such as Jackie Robinson's historic entry into the game and the abuse he suffered at the hands of many players, particularly those from the South. He pulls no punches, and clearly rebuts attempts at revisionism by those now rightfully embarrased by their conduct at the time. His portraits of Branch Rickey, Walter O'Malley, Leo Durocher and Casey Stengal are vivid and illuminating.

On the down side, much is missing from The Era, even given its confines to New York's teams. Kahn provides strong coverage of the 1947, 1948 and the 1949 seasons, but then skims quickly from 1950-1957, providing only the briefest summaries of the seasons and then short accounts of the World Series. He slows down during the 50s only to (brilliantly) tell the story of how Walter O'Malley obtained control of the Dodgers and then removed them to LA, forever breaking the hearts of Brooklynites.

Another minus is his occassional asides into the era's politics. While occasionally relevant on issues such as race, his comments on foreign affairs are totally out of place and add nothing to the narrative.

All told, however, The Era is a wonderful book that you'll read quickly and put down wanting more.

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Good Read, but not Kahn's Best Stuff

Roger Kahn captures the flavor of the era when for all but two seasons from (1947-1957) a New York baseball team won the World Series. The author focuses more heavily on a couple of those seasons, with tidbits on star players (Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Pee Wee Reese, etc.), team owners, sports writers and managers. I particularly liked the author's coverage of the 1947 season and 1951 Giant/Dodgers playoff. He also gives us a sense of business, including the rise of Walter O'Malley, the falling of attendance during the era, and the machinations that resulted in the Dodgers and Giants deserting the city for California.

This readable book has its flaws. The author's coverage of each season is out of balance, he suggests that Willie Mays was the game's top player (in the 1950's Mantle was probably better), and he shows no sense of the longing and bitterness in the many big-league cities where pennants are rarely if ever won.

Kahn is a marvelous writer, but his readable prose never approaches the poetic level found in some of his other books (Boys of Summer, Flame or Pure Desire, Memories of Summer). This book is definitely worth reading, but it falls a short of his best writing on baseball.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Celebrated sports writer Roger Kahn casts his gaze on the golden age of baseball, an unforgettable time when the game thrived as America's unrivaled national sport. The Era begins in 1947 with Jackie Robinson changing major league baseball forever by taking the field for the Dodgers. Dazzling, momentous events characterize the decade that followed-Robinson's amazing accomplishments; the explosion on the national scene of such soon-to-be legends as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Bobby Thompson, Duke Snider, and Yogi Berra; Casey Stengel's crafty managing; the emergence of televised games; and the stunning success of the Yankees as they play in nine out of eleven World Series. The Era concludes with the relocation of the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, a move that shook the sport to its very roots.

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