If you are a Hank Greenberg admirer or simply a lover of baseball history, then you may want to check out my review of John Klima’s new book, The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII, now up on The Hardball Times: http://www.hardballtimes.com/a-look-at-the-game-must-go-on/.
Here’s an excerpt:
In his introduction, Klima cautions that The Game Must Go On: Hank Greenberg, Pete Gray and the Great Days of Baseball on the Home Front in WWII—published by Thomas Dunne Books earlier this year—is conceptualized with a “cohesive, narrative style” and thus is “not a textbook or a reference book” (ix, xii). However, Klima’s work is nothing short of exhaustively researched, as he draws from interviews, personal letters, and newspaper archives to breathe life into an intimately detailed tapestry rich with colorful, poignant exploits.
In as much, Klima’s sports journalism experiences (as well as his earlier books) lend a palpable authority to this history of wartime baseball and the heavy tolls that World War II wrought upon players, fans, the game, and the country. Despite what might otherwise be an almost overwhelming wealth of information, The Game manages to dexterously weave through the wartime sprawl of historical events and figures with apparent ease, as the reader follows three distinctive central characters whose lives are forever changed by war: Hank Greenberg, Billy Southworth Jr., and Pete Gray. . . .
Read the rest of the review here.
Pulp Ephemera 