Customer Reviews

A Complete History of the Negro Leagues: 1884 to 1955

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I very rarely not finish a book. I could not get through half of this one. There is nothing in it about the players of Negro baseball. Mark Ribowsky just wastes your time with his huge vocabulary (keep a dictionary handy, you will need it at least once a paragraph) & his exhaustive knowledge of the soap operas behind the scene of the leagues. He spends no time talking about actually players, teams or the games they played. I am a fan of baseball history, but found this book far removed from baseball and more oriented to the war of words between the early, explotive owners of the Negro league clubs. A history of the game this is not.

I got what I wanted from this book. It is an honest depiction of who and what the Negro Leagues were. Much of what I knew about the Negro Leagues prior to reading this book was based on "myths". I felt that Ribowsky did a good job of distinguishing myth from fact and compiled an excellent story.

At times the book is a little confusing when it comes to trying to understand who is who. But, the Negro Leaques survived during a very confusing time.

Avoid this book at all costs. It has little original research and is literally filled with dozens of factual errors. There are better books on this subject; this isn't one of them!

I am surprised by the negative reviews of this book. While not the most engaging book, it is definetely not terrible and certainly not a waste of time.

This book is a nice introduction to the history of the negro leagues. In fact, if you have the opportunity, I recommend it.