Customer Reviews

The Era, 1947-1957: When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World

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Roger Kahn has once again pulled a fresh reading of what could've been a nostalgic mess from a less skilled writer's pen. "The Era 1947-1957: When the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers Ruled the World" is able to tread that fine line between admiration and hagliography, and presents us with an engaging history of the decade during which New York's baseball teams (yes, Brooklyn is technically part of New York City) dominated first place in their leagues.

Many of the anecdotes tread familiar paths, but it's worth hearing them again in Kahn's distinct voice. There are some funny, some grim stories that are not so well known. Unlike most baseball books, this one doesn't bog the reader down with buckets of stats which are usually included so that the author can impress you. Kahn is on a different level. Keep this book alongside your copy of "Boys of Summer" for a complete view of New York's baseball dominance during this era.

The Era is a wonderfully written account of New York's three baseball teams from 1947-1957. It provides strong coverage of that period's most important events and puts you into a box seat (no skyboxes then) for the most thrilling moments of that decade. Even though you know the outcome of the games, Kahn's writing leaves you on the edge of your seat.

In short, Kahn provides a strong narrative of the period's most important events and portraits of its most important personalities, but is uneven when recounting the seasons the book purports to cover.

Kahn is strongest on a few topics, such as Jackie Robinson's historic entry into the game and the abuse he suffered at the hands of many players, particularly those from the South. He pulls no punches, and clearly rebuts attempts at revisionism by those now rightfully embarrased by their conduct at the time. His portraits of Branch Rickey, Walter O'Malley, Leo Durocher and Casey Stengal are vivid and illuminating.

On the down side, much is missing from The Era, even given its confines to New York's teams. Kahn provides strong coverage of the 1947, 1948 and the 1949 seasons, but then skims quickly from 1950-1957, providing only the briefest summaries of the seasons and then short accounts of the World Series. He slows down during the 50s only to (brilliantly) tell the story of how Walter O'Malley obtained control of the Dodgers and then removed them to LA, forever breaking the hearts of Brooklynites.

Another minus is his occassional asides into the era's politics. While occasionally relevant on issues such as race, his comments on foreign affairs are totally out of place and add nothing to the narrative.

All told, however, The Era is a wonderful book that you'll read quickly and put down wanting more.

"The Era" is a must read for anyone who loves baseball and great writing.

But there is no secret to why baseball's greatest era is told so well in this book. The formula is simple. Take a gaggle of the greatest players, dump them into the world's greatest city and let them play America's greatest game and you've got a story. The tricky part it telling that story. Luckily, baseball's greatest writer lived during "The Era," and has a personal handle on all its intricacies and tales. Roger Kahn's stories of our baseball heroes make me wish I lived during the times when New York had three superb teams. The Yankees, Giants and Dodgers have never been descirbed more precisely, vividly or enjoyably than they are in "The Era."

Kahn's ability to tell stories of baseball men away from the diamond is derived from his close relationships with them. He was friends with Pee Wee Reese. He knows Enos Slaughter. He dined with Leo Durocher. The great part about this book is that Kahn's lucid descriptions make you feel like you know them all too.

If you are a baseball fan you will love "The Era." And if you appreciate great writing you will love Kahn even more.

Start the 2005 baseball season the right way-- read "The Era."

My husband is an "old" Brooklyn Dodger fan who loves everything Roger Kahn writes, so I thought this was the perfect Christmas gift...until he opened it and told me he had already read it!!! I was disappointed until he told me he had read it a couple of years ago and would read it again because he enjoyed it so much the first time. Christmas saved.

Roger Kahn captures the flavor of the era when for all but two seasons from (1947-1957) a New York baseball team won the World Series. The author focuses more heavily on a couple of those seasons, with tidbits on star players (Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Pee Wee Reese, etc.), team owners, sports writers and managers. I particularly liked the author's coverage of the 1947 season and 1951 Giant/Dodgers playoff. He also gives us a sense of business, including the rise of Walter O'Malley, the falling of attendance during the era, and the machinations that resulted in the Dodgers and Giants deserting the city for California.

This readable book has its flaws. The author's coverage of each season is out of balance, he suggests that Willie Mays was the game's top player (in the 1950's Mantle was probably better), and he shows no sense of the longing and bitterness in the many big-league cities where pennants are rarely if ever won.

Kahn is a marvelous writer, but his readable prose never approaches the poetic level found in some of his other books (Boys of Summer, Flame or Pure Desire, Memories of Summer). This book is definitely worth reading, but it falls a short of his best writing on baseball.

THE ERA is Roger Kahn's anecdotal, witty and exceptionally readable retelling of the eleven baseball seasons between 1947 and 1957 (also known as "The Glory Days") when baseball was preeminently the National Pastime, and New York City was the capital of the baseball universe.

Kahn, an ultimate baseball insider, covered all three New York area ballclubs for various publications during The Era, and knew most of the participants personally. In THE ERA he avoids the deification of ballplayers that was so common in the contemporary press, bringing these men into realistic focus. By so doing, he reduces some giants to the stature of ordinary men and creates giants out of pygmies. Carl Erskine of the Brooklyn Dodgers has said that, "baseball is a reflection of society," and never was this more true than during The Era, when baseball became the cutting edge of an increasingly powerful trend toward liberalism (the signing of Jackie Robinson), a battleground of the conservative ethos (the suspension of Leo Durocher), and a stage play wherein a small army of more talented and less talented heroes, scoundrels, clowns, jerks and geniuses helped create the national mood against a backdrop of increasing prosperity, Cold War paranoia, and tectonic sociological change.

Although THE ERA is ostensibly about the rivalry between the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, and the New York Yankees, it is really about so much more. It is about the "good old days" when things perhaps were not so good as we recall and far newer than we remember. THE ERA is a time-travel visit to the world of the Eisenhower Baby, the first world many of us remember. So return with Roger Kahn to those thrilling days of yesteryear, the Spoiled Bratdom of America.

I got this for my husband who only reads sports books and mostly baseball at that. He said he hadn't liked other books by this author but proceeded to plow through this book and really enjoyed it. I picked it because it featured some stories about Willie Mays - his all time favorite.
I'd say give it a try for your sports/baseball fan.

Roger Kahn has written numerous books (according to his most recent offering "Beyond the Boys of Summer" he has written nineteen). Seemingly all of them have been praised and this one is no exception. Being a huge baseball (in particular the Yankees) fan and student of the game's history, this book is fantastic. Kahn brilliantly weaves his personal history in with the year-by-year accounts of baseball in New York. In the book, he claims The Era of 1947-1957 is the greatest in baseball history. While that can be debated, there is no denying that his expansive knowledge of this time greatly aids the book. The antics of Leo Durocher and Casey Stengel are featured prominently, as is the struggle of Jackie Robinson to gain acceptance among his peers and fans. The paperback features a brief four-page afterword discussing what has happened in baseball since the book's release in 1993. Overall, a great read and highly recommended.

With this book Kahn continues to intelligently and eloquently discuss professional baseball. He doesn't limit his focus to the events on the field, important games, and well-known players. This isn't so much about what happened, but about why it happened. His focus is the overall relationship between the professional game and the socio-political influences of era. It's the context of American history that provides the framework of his story. But,like in his other books about baseball, his own personal experiences as a sportswriter during this period make this book more than just a dry history lesson.

This was an excellant gift idea for my dad for Christmas this year. After seeing the PBS special "Baseball - A New York Love Affair" on my local Thirteen-PBS station (NYC & Long Island) I thought this would make a great gift for my dad who grew up in Brooklyn and I think is an ex-Dodger fan, but is now (and has been for decades) a die-hard Yankee fan. Joe DiMaggio was his hero.