Beyond the Boys of Summer [Hardcover]

Roger Kahn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2005

Spanning half a century, the first comprehensive anthology of the great Roger Kahn's writing, for a new generation of sports fans

Roger Kahn, author of 19 books including the modern classic The Boys of Summer, is arguably America's greatest sportswriter. Now, for the first time, Beyond the Boys of Summer presents a showcase of 50 years worth of Kahn's celebrated work. From a 1955 article on the incomparable Jackie Robinson to excerpts from his recent bestselling book on the controversial '78 Yankees, this unprecedented anthology spans an entire career to show off the grace, wit, and elegance of Roger Kahn's most memorable writing on sports, as well as his reporting beyond the world of baseball diamonds and boxing rings.

Uniquely organized around life's stages, the book brings readers face to face with some of the greatest names in sport, including Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, Reggie Jackson, and Pete Rose. Through Kahn's fly-on-the-wall style, readers will see Duke Snider in the avocado fields of California, Mickey Mantle in Texas taverns, and Joe DiMaggio watching his famous wife, Marilyn Monroe, flirt for the movie cameras.

In the final segment, Kahn meets the 80-year-old poet Robert Frost, mourns the deaths of friends and heroes, and movingly writes about how sports stars--and even sportswriters--grow old, looking back on a long life well lived.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Kahn will be forever linked to his 1972 classic The Boys of Summer a melancholy chronicle of the baseball and postbaseball lives of the 1956 world champion Brooklyn Dodgers. Kahn's favored milieu may be baseball, but he's also profiled or interviewed such luminaries as poet Robert Frost ("The Young Writer Meets the Aged Poet"), and his books include an examination of Jewish America (The Passionate People, 1968) and a study of campus rebellion (The Battle for Morningside Heights, 1970). Baseball is the subject of most of the selections included in this anthology, but a baseball article by Kahn is to other baseball articles what a Tony Bennett tune is to the song stylings of the crooner at your local piano bar. Among the highlights here are selections from Kahn's chronicle of his experiences owning a minor-league baseball team ("The Dreams of the Young"), a profile of an alcoholic Mickey Mantle, and the previously mentioned Robert Frost interview. Kahn is a giant among sports journalists, and this is a fine sampling of his most memorable work. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

Spanning half a century, the first comprehensive anthology of "sliders with social history," writings from the legendary sportswriter Roger Kahn

"This is my nineteenth book; all my life I've tried to write literature. I am aware that like Stan Musial or Ted Williams at the bat most of the time I've failed. But the critical word is 'try.' That effort has been a wonder of my life."
--Roger Kahn, from the Prologue

"Roger Kahn is the best of all with his sweet ear for the cadence of baseball talk."
--Donald Hall, New York Times Book Review

From the beginning of his career, as a young man reporting on sports for the New York Herald Tribune, Roger Kahn labored to create literature. After painstaking research and observation, he would sit down at his desk and "write like hell," working to turn everyday events into art. For the next fifty years, he never stopped.

Today, Roger Kahn is arguably the greatest sportswriter of his generation. Most famous for his modern classic, The Boys of Summer--hailed by James Michener as "the finest American book on sports"--Kahn is the author of eighteen books and the only baseball writer to have had three titles on the New York Times bestseller list. While he is best known for his "sweet ear" for America's national pastime, Kahn did not limit himself to baseball. With his literary style of reportage, he explored the depths of basketball and boxing, Judaism and McCarthyism, and even poetry in an unforgettable interview with one of his heroes, Robert Frost.

For the first time, Beyond the Boys of Summer presents a showcase of fifty years' worth of Kahn's celebrated work. Uniquely organized around life's stages--from youth to old age--the book brings you face-to-face with some of the greatest names in sports, including Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Willie Mays, and Pete Rose. Beyond sports, Kahn takes you back to the tumultuous days of 1968 to witness the violent protest of a student rebellion. He brings you to a bar mitzvah for a hilarious and controversial look at the Jewish ceremony. And he invites you for a quiet walk through the tree-lined streets of Brooklyn, where his father instilled in him an undying love for baseball.

Harking back to a time when newspaper writing was an art form and Roger Kahn was one of its most accomplished masters, Beyond the Boys of Summer is nothing less than a literary accomplishment of the highest order.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (January 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007144727X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071447270
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,835,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roger Kahn is Always A Treat to Read, March 6, 2005

By 

C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond the Boys of Summer (Hardcover)

I have never read a book by Roger Kahn that was less than five stars. This volume is a collection of Kahn's work from books and magazine articles from his illustrious career. Roger covered the Brooklyn Dodgers during the seasons of 1952 and 1953 which led to The Boys of Summer. The book is divided into sections with chapters devoted to athletes, mainly baseball players, that have been subjects of Kahn's work over the past several decades. The last chapter is a tribute to former Dodgers' outfielder Carl Furillo, The Reading Rifle. It is absolutely first rate. Some of the other sections of the book are devoted to New York's centerfielders of the 1950's, hitters and pitchers, fighters such as Dempsey and Ali, in addition to Billy vs. Reggie, and George M. Steinbrenner. A very touching section is entitled "Heroes Off the Field" in which chapters are devoted to Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Ring Lardner, and Pee Wee Reese. Another memorable section is devoted to "On Getting Old" with chapters on Robert Frost, Stan Musial (old as a ballplayer), sportswriters, and the previously mentioned Carl Furillo. I did find one minor error in the Introduction written by Rob Miraldi when he said "he (Kahn) was sent to cover the crosstown Giants in the Bronx" after covering the Dodgers in 1952 and 1953. The Giants as Miraldi knows played in the Polo Grounds which was located on the island of Manhattan. If you have enjoyed Roger Kahn's previous books you won't want to miss this one, especially if you are a baseball fan. This isn't a book to be read by a speed reader. This is a book to be savored.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice collection from a great writer, June 17, 2006

By 

K.A.Goldberg (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Boys of Summer (Hardcover)

This is a moving collection of sportswriter Roger Kahn's writing over the last half century. There's information on the old Brooklyn Dodgers, of course, including Jackie Robinson, Carl Furillo, Pee Wee Reese, and Duke Snider. We also enjoy several looks at baseball stars from other teams (Mays, Maris, Aaron, Rose), and, of course, a moving tribute to the author's baseball-fan father. The book is mostly about baseball, but there are essays on other sports, Jewish culture, and 1960's campus rebellion. Aficionados may have read many of these essays before - but all are worth reading again. I just wish there was more here - Kahn is such a readable and moving wordsmith.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading is Fundamental, July 27, 2005

By 

Bob Fitzsimmons (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Boys of Summer (Hardcover)

To the reviewer below who commented that this book is a retread and not the book he thought he was buying, I refer that reviewer to the subtitle of the book: The Very Best of Roger Kahn. This subtitle makes is very clear that this book is an anthology and not a new work. If, somehow, that doesn't make it entirely clear, a cursory scan of the book jacket's flaps and back cover would do so. It's an anthology, buddy. No need to disparage a great book because you didn't pay enough attention to look at what you were buying.

Furthermore, it's an excellent anthology. Many of the selections included haven't seen print in 40+ years. There are pieces here from magazines and newspapers that no longer exist, so even though every piece in the anthology (other than the prologue and introduction) have been previously published, many of them have never been seen by readers under 60. In this way, the anthology is revealing the great works of this masterful writer to a whole new generation of readers and fans.

If you like great baseball writing and enjoyed The Boys of Summer, I guarantee that you will enjoy this anthology.