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Roger Kahn, Boys of Summer (1972) According to the author in The Los Angeles Times, the first printing of this book--12,000 copies--sold out in days. Harper bought 30,000 copies from the Book of the Month to keep stores stocked while more printings were prepared. Kahn was interviewed about the book by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, and Dick Cavett devoted an entire 90-minute program on ABC to the book and to some of its principals. In 1952, 24-year-old reporter, Kahn, traveled to Florida to cover the Brooklyn Dodgers, a team he fell in love with at an early age at home in Brooklyn. Part memoir, this book details Kahn's early years as a journalists struggling to get assignments covering major league baseball. The author writes much about the role baseball played in his youth and in his relationship with his father, and ultimately describes the ups and downs of the Jackie Robinson Dodgers—the first integrated major league baseball team. Through Kahn's sports reporting, it becomes clear that he feels like he's become part of the team, and as he details the highs and lows of the 1952/53 seasons, his own anger, frustration and bliss at wins and losses in World Series games are communicated. He provides intimate interviews with players, detailed reporting on injuries, attitudes toward race in major league baseball, and what it was about the Dodgers team that captivated him and the nation. From sports writer David Halberstam: "The Boys of Summer is the one we all shoot for. It was the work that showed us that a sports book could be about a lot more than just sports." MORE: Book adaptation for The Los Angeles Times, by Roger Kahn Amazon (synopsis and reviews) |
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