Helpful Score: 5
I've read many of Doris Kearns Goodwins books of historical people, so I wanted to know more about her own life. I learned she and her father were avid baseball fans -- a sport I could do completely without. If you love baseball, you'll love this book.
A delightful memoir of a young girl growing up as a (Brooklyn) Dodgers fan in the 1950s. This book transported me back to a New York/Long Island of some 50 years ago. Simply beautiful writing and an engaging tale. If only Brooklyn still had a baseball team.
Helpful Score: 4
I had to read this for a class, but it turned out to be a fantastic memoir. It's written by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a noted historian whose focus is on the Kennedy administration. Her memoir is about growing up on Long Island in the 1950s. Central to the story is baseball. As all great nonfiction does, this memoir reads like a novel.
Swirling themes include religion (which NY team do the Catholics root for), class (which NY team do the middle class root for), and race (what happens when Jackie Robinson comes to play for the Dodgers?). Ironically, gender is barely even mentioned...the author knew her box scores as well as any other fan.
Swirling themes include religion (which NY team do the Catholics root for), class (which NY team do the middle class root for), and race (what happens when Jackie Robinson comes to play for the Dodgers?). Ironically, gender is barely even mentioned...the author knew her box scores as well as any other fan.
