Kahn Books

This item came in the mail in three business days. It was in great condition for being a new book. It was a very quick, painless, and easy transaction.

If you like magic you would like The Wish Broom by Peggy Kahn. It's about a magic broom that's cleaning up the house. That's a funny story. I wish I had a magic broom! Check it out at your library.

"In memory, forest foliage is rarely purple, forest clearings are rarely bright orange, and lavender barns with yellow roofs are rare indeed. But Wolf Kahn brings those things together and makes them absolutely plausible in Low Barn Behind Trees, one of the twelve extraordinary paintings in this calendar. Kahn revels in the fusion of realism and abstraction, and his genius lies in finding intense, unexpected colors to express the truth of his peaceful landscapes. Reproductions include Invented Foliage and Half Hidden. ¶ 13 x 12" wall calendar (opens to 13 x 24") with twelve full-color reproductions. ISBN: 0-7649-3063-X. Click on the small picture to see the back cover. Related items available in Wolf Kahn Gallery."--© Pomegranate

Like most voracious readers, I have read innumerable biographies. Years ago, they were chronological accounts in which almost every part of the subject's life was treated with equal gravity: biographer as stenographer. The more modern biography starts with the greatest moment in the person's life, then goes back to the beginning and tells the story in chronological order. Biographer as storyteller. There are, of course, hatchet jobs, which concentrate only on the bad a person has done, and hagiographies, which make the subject out to be a saint. Some, however, are in a class by themselves. William Manchester's Churchill (which, due to his ill-health will never be finished). McCullough's Truman. Caro's Johnson. And Kahn's Swope.

Never in my five decades as a reader have I read a biography as clever and well-written as E.J. Kahn's 1965 biography of Herbert Bayard Swope, "The World of Swope." I read it at the recommendation of a former Associated Press news librarian. Swope was probably the single most important editor of The World, which was, in turn, one of the most important New York newspapers, from its founding by Pulitzer to its death by strangulation at the hands of his heirs in 1931. Swope's life was complicated and fascinating, and Kahn renders it's aspects with care, anecdote and tub-thumpingly good writing. What fascinated me was the clear use of the "writer's guiding intelligence." The early years of Swope's life are dealt with in a page or two, the three decades of his life as a journalist are explored in loving detail and the three decades of his life after he left The World are dealt with crisply and concisely. Not a word of it felt obligatory or misplaced. I highly recommend it.

I am the first one to have read this book in its finished form,having been given it by the author shortly after its publication and arrival last month. It basically weaves the story of a group of futuristic, environmentally-conscious but otherwise carefree, thoughtful, spiritual communards with the author's theories on the ways of the world in the year 2999, expounding on basic ideas of what the future holds for religion, world government, health and diet, life expectancy, racial make-up, gender equality, population and education. The book begins in southern Oregon, and he having himself lived for years there the communal life, the opening six chapters detail its social interactions, dietary habits, family ties, and generaly philosophies, as well as a thorough description of the layout of the area in which they live. They live in harmony with the natural world, conscious of the feet they lay upon it and eager to avoid a repeat of the Entropy Gaea that, among other things, reduced the Earth's number to a sustainable and balanced 1.7 billion people. But something rots in Denmark: the North American Alliance, headed by the satanic L.C. Free and based in Sante Fe, New Mexico, wants to explout the very forests the communards call home and where their lot, the Claim, exists. Centogenarian Max and crew hit the road to stop it, meeting various characters long the way, heading first to Boulder, Colorado, then Santa Fe for meeting with the Pres, then D.C. for a demonstration on the Mall, then Prague, and onwards, and finally to the world capital Jerusalem for the denouement. Overall, the novel is as bold as it is rosy. Making predictions/assumptions about how the world will look, feel and be 1000 years in the future is not a task to be taken lightly, in light of the monumental and generally unpredictable changes of the last fifty years. But with all the doomsdayers and scaremongers and naysayers there are, here lies an optimistic future for Earth Mother and her people. If not an environmentalist call-to-arms, Y3K is a let's-do-it-because-it's-right-and-good wake-up-call that screams from it pages the coming calamity we face, and it speaks the simple truth about what is to come. A must read for huggers round the world and for anyone with a passin interest in the future of the Earth.

I started weight training a little over a year ago and have looked at so many different books (most of them from the library.) This one is definitely the cream of the crop and is one of the few books I actually bought. It's very comprehensive and is like an encyclopedia of training moves for different body parts. It also gives info about what kind of strength training is helpful for various sports, so you can build muscle where you need it most. It does focus mostly on free weights, though it discusses weight machines too. It gives various routines from beginner to advanced and it even has a chapter on the history of body building (quite interesting!) The best thing about it though is the variety it offers. I get bored doing the same thing over and over and this book has been very useful to me in that regard. When I start to feel bored, I simply change my workout by choosing different excercies for each muscle group. I think even a seasoned body builder would find this book useful. Bill Pearl is also a vegetarian (ovo-lacto) and offers smart advice about food and weight training.

There are no silly fads here or wacko advice from the latest kid-wonder--just solid time-tested training weight training programs. I've used them, and I know they work for me, and I'm not particularly genetically talented for muscle-building. There is a heavy emphasis on free weights, which Bill Pearl believes provide the best workout. It's also very useful that most of the exercises in the book can be done in a fairly inexpensive home gym.

As a female reviewer, I can also say this is great book for women. When I first bought the first-edition of book in the early 1990s, it was the only one I'd seen which advocated that women train like men. Specifically, that means free-weight exercises, including the bench press, and weights which are difficult on the last rep, in order to gain strength. He wasn't just talking out of his hat either, as he trained regularly with his wife, Judy, who has a beautiful, trim, feminine body. Today it's widely accepted that if women train like men they will gain strength without bulking up, but I give Bill Pearl credit for being one of the first to popularize that truth. The new edition of the book, which I bought recently, has an updated section on women.

I disagree with the earlier reviewer that photographs would be better than the simple line drawings in the book. The training programs with mini line drawings are excellent to photocopy and take to the gym! I've never seen a book with such convenient 'memory jogs' when you're still learning your program. The drawings are based on photographs of Bill and Judy working out, so they are accurate. Each mini-picture refers you to a page with a larger drawing and complete description of the exercise--so if you need more info, you just go there.

I also disagree that this book is only for serious obsessive body builders. I'm a very average person and it has helped me enormously over the years! At least 3/4 of the book is geared to average people or athletes whose main sport is not weight training. The book starts with three "general conditioning" programs for beginners--which gives you about six months of workouts. Once you've worked through those programs you can decide to remain in a general conditioning track for strength and good health or move to either a sports-training track or a more serious bodybuilding track.

I've read quite a few weight-training books, and this all-time classic is still the best.

I have searched MANY books on weight training and have found this to be the most comprehensive, offering the most variety of exercises - suitable for home and gym alike. This is by far the most inclusive book I have found, and turn back to it frequently so that I can keep my work-out varied.

My main complaint is the lack of emphasis on proper form, something which I find few books do well. More photos would be helpful, but overall, a great book and my current weight training favorite - good for men and women and I believe good for beginners as well as seasoned weight trainers.

In my earlier review of "Weight Training for Men and Women" by the same author, I had addressed the same issues which appear in the current book, which is nothing more than reproducing the previous book under a different title. The reason for my second review is to attempt to answer my own concerning questions. Those are:

1- What are the simplest and basic exercises needed for staying fit versus achieving tip-top athleticism?
2- What are the basic nutritional needs for staying healthy at affordable cost?
3- What are the minimum guidelines for telling the difference between good fitness virtues versus bad ones?

I believe that Bill Pearl has taken the bodybuilding approach for granted as the best way to building strength. There must be a simpler answer to reduce the number of exercises to as low as 3 of 4, and the nutritional needs to basic grocery food stuff. The complicated needs for bodybuilding stand in the way of producing an educated generation of fit citizens. From what you read in this book, the current approach to weight training is more retarded than the 18th century's approach: complex needs for formidable objectives. This approach alienates the majority of people who are looking for affordable, rational, and practical life style of staying fit and strong.

A summary for the book contents follows with reviewer's comments.

- General conditioning: it prepares beginners to joining the world of adult training for the sake of becoming bodybuilders.

- Bodybuilding: a summary of training programs for beginners, intermediate, and advanced trainees with helpful tables of sketches of exercises.

- Strength Training for Sports: an essential discussion on periodization, exercise physiology, and training habits.

- Stretches from Weight Training: a brief and appropriate list of stretching exercises.

- Sports Training Programs: full 100 pages of non-sensual and redundant programs for people who never seek help from a bodybuilding expert. The section on Powerlifting propagates the myth of isolated regional training. Thus the legs are hit hard on one day, the shoulders on another day, and the back on a different day. That is a backward approach to training that even the 18th century athletes would have never contemplated.

- Exercises for Free Weights: This is the thickest chapter in the book. It deals with exercises for isolated body parts. It starts with two anatomical charts that are made in haste. The chart of the front, misplaces the gluteus minimus and that of the back misplaces the two rhomboideus muscles. Neither chart locates the serratus anterior, levator scapulae, abdominis transversus, or the most important muscles: the spinal erectors or quadratus lumborum. Let alone the soleus and vastus intermedius.
Its major pitfalls are: the bent-to-opposite foot (page 192), wide-gripped back squat (page 284), and cross-arm front squat (page 285-7). The first exercise traumatizes the vertebral ligaments, the latter two overlook shoulder flexibility.


- Hardware: is the right place to fill 20 pages with non sense information.

- Fit for Life: deals with low back issues and children's training. Its pitfall lies in designating specific training programs for blue-collar workers and white-collar workers, as if the author could draw the specific health criteria from socioeconomic status.

-Getting Older: is a motivational chapter on training in old age. It is based on personal concern of the author. The over 50's program is merely a personal choice than a reliable recommendation.

-Muscles: is a snap shot on muscle anatomy and function with an attempt to explain the effect of exercise of muscular adaptation.

- Injuries: is a brief outline of sports injuries and the "RICE" first aid.

- Injury Rehabilitation Program: is a useless chapter that lists exercises of back, knee, and shoulders without further details on how to structure any rehab.

- Nutrition: deals with macronutrients, supplements, natural food, and vegetarian eating. It presents both the author's own experience in addition to current knowledge among bodybuilders.

- Drugs: deals with the reason for their use, its statistics, and types: steroids, growth hormone, and stimulants. It discusses two perplexing uses of human chorionic gonadotropin and tamoxifen by bodybuilders for blocking the effect of steroid on breast and testicles. [It might be more shocking to most readers to realize that nutritional health food stores in America sell on-the-self packages that contain steroids. Those cause breast swelling in male bodybuilders with inconvenient knobbing and hardening of the breast tissue. (Ref.: personal encounter is a local gym)].

- Brief History of Resistance Exercise: is the best chapter in the book. It contains rare photos and stories from the 18th century and attempts to document the history of lifting. Its best photo belongs to Arthur Saxon's one-hand press of his two brothers loaded on a bar. The hitch, in that photo, is that the loaded bar does not show a yielding curve, which raises doubt about the authenticity of the photograph.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

I am just getting back into working out with weights as it has been about eight years. Since then, I have forgotten everything and a trainer in my gym referred this book. I love it! Every day I go through and pick out the parts of the body I am going to work out and I am able to choose new techniques I have forgotten or have never tried before. It has been a few months and I love my results. This book shows you the proper way of doing things and what I like is it tells you exactly what part of the muscle(s) you are working. I recommend it for everyone that is just starting out or that needs some new techniques.

While this book is great for the average Star Wars fan, many casual readers may find it to be not as well written as some of the other Star Wars novels. A New Hope was ghost written by Alan Dean Foster (author of Splinter of the Mind's Eye- the first official Expanded Universe Novel). As a book, A New Hope is interesting in that given the context in which it was written, as a simple adaptation of the first film, does have that bare bones charm that the original film does. The writing is good, but lacks the depth that the other stories have. As a film, A New Hope works better. The Empire Strikes Back is written better than its predecessor and features a uniquely written sequence on the battle of Hoth. Also the training scenes of Luke on Dagobah go into more detail and many fans of the Jedi will enjoy these scenes. Return of the Jedi is the best written of them all, and as a novel holds up to the film the best. The end sequence in which Darth Vader is finally unmasked by his son is actually very well written and gives readers a fleeting glimpse of the man, Anakin Skywalker. It stands to be the best scene in the whole of the book. Moving and powerful without being cliched or sappy. Overall this is a fun read and though it may not be as exciting for the casual reader, Star Wars fans would greatly enjoy it!

These novelizations (in this book) are good, but just not great. The films are so much better written and enjoyable. But these are a good read nonetheless. Just not anywhere near as good as the film they are based on. The storyline is faithful to the films for the most part, but some of the different stuff in them was just not to my tastes. All in all, each is a solid 4 star effort and they are good to have in a Star Wars fan's collection.

This book lets you experience the adventures of the Star Wars movies for yourself without a director's interference. That's the fun part about it--but don't expect some new revelations on characters you've known for 30 years.

It's a fun read if you're yearning to see some familiar characters.

every saga has a beginning. like "STAR WARS" a saga is a series. "STAR WARS" began with Episode I THE PHANTOM MENACE and ended with Episode VI RETURN OF THE JEDI but the film was connected from episodes I-VI by episode III REVENGE OF THE SITH. the worlds shortest episode is Episode IV A NEW HOPE and the worlds longest is Episode II ATTACK OF THE CLONES if you watched this 6-12 hour saga, you will foolow the story.

This neat little anthology contains all three of the original STAR WARS novels---STAR WARS, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and THE RETURN OF THE JEDI. Given the glutinous mass of material that's grown up around STAR WARS (now numbering tens of thousands of items in every media category and form of product, and an entire "Expanded Universe" beyond the six theatrical films) it is amazing to think that STAR WARS all began with one script treatment turned into a novel.

I recall reading it while sitting in the Orlando airport on my way back from Disney World on my seventeenth birthday, just before the movie opened and formally introduced us to Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke, Leia, See Threepio and Artoo Detoo. At first I thought the cover blurb, "Luke, armed only with his father's light saber" meant a cavalry weapon.

Sci-Fi pulp fiction yes, but these are still the best STAR WARS stories, and if they've become overly familiar, it's only because they've become so much a part of our popular culture. Having all three books in one volume is like having your cake and eating it, too.

So, if you've never read the original trilogy do so. And if you read it a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (that would be the Carter and Reagan Administrations), read it again. IV, V, and VI---hah! They're still numero uno in that world.

The seller described the book accurately except for the smell. Someone at some point in time had marked out something on the inside cover with one of those industrial-strength black permanent markers (the ones that are one step above a Sharpie). It stank to high heaven. I had to get a razor blade and cut a rectangle of the paperback cover out because the smell was so bad. But otherwise the book was in fine condition.

A friend at work recommended this book and I have already learned so much from it. It is just a terrific resource from a novice to a more advanced runner. highly recommended, an easy read.

Great stuff - a workable, practical guide that will suit beginners and seasoned runners alike. A really worthwhile purchase and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their running experience and remain injury-free.

Love Jeff Galloway's approach to training injury free. This book is great for all levels of running. I refer to it often.

I was very disappointed with this book. The information was outdated and the section on women's running was inaccurate.

I had heard about this book for years, and finally got around to reading it recently. I was immediately turned off when Kahn was describing the influences in his household in New York--most notably Karl Marx. What is it with these people and their love for Marxism? Marxist governments have been responsible for over 100 million deaths worldwide, and yet to this day there are those who gush about how wonderful it is. These people are more than idealists, they are dangerous morons. Since I am not a political neophyte, the mention of Marx disgusted me and detracted from an otherwise good book. Isn't it ironic that if Kahn was living in his Utopian Marxist society, he wouldn't have made the fortune on this book that he made under capitalism?

How often do you read a book that you don't want to end? "The Boys of Summer" is one of them.

How often do you read a book at exactly the right time in your life, at a time when you are the most in tune with what the book is really about? For me, "The Boys of Summer" and I have met at just the right time.

It's not like I've been unaware of this book. Being a baseball fan, it's presence is just about as constant as it could ever be. As a lifelong New York Yankees fan, "The Boys of Summer" has always been "that old book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, who the heck cares?" Well, score that a two base error.

Waking up to the realities and disappointments of middle age is not all that much fun, nor is it frequently reckoned on it's own terms with necessary insight. It's usually a lot easier to go to sleep, get up, go to work, and watch those ballgames nearly every day. Now that's something to hold onto. The daily cacophony of two children is a great distraction, particularly if one is happy to be distracted.

But what of the inevitable changes wrought by the inexorable march of time? How long should one dwell on realizing that not only are you as old as the ballplayers you watch on TV, but that it was twenty-five years since you realized it? When in the world did our favorite players become coaches and hall of fame candidates, to be seen only at old timers days? Am I an old timer now? What...???

"The Boys of Summer" does us a great and timely favor. It's a powerful reminder. It's a gentle and insistent reflection of ourselves and what our lives have done to us, and where we find ourselves now. What have we lost along the way? What have we gained?

The game of baseball has long endured. It is both unchanging and ever changing. It can be a great distraction. Author Roger Kahn shows how it can teach as well.

Baseball is youth. Enthusiastic, ebullient, exciting, entrancing. Baseball will always retain it's youth. as that is it's nature. But not us. Youth passes and passes away, as it must. Life goes on. We must make do, and my oh my, isn't that a bit sad?

I wasn't around for the Golden Age of Baseball, the 1950's in New York with the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants fighting for supremacy in New York, although the team from the Bronx seemed to mostly come out on top. "The Boys of Summer" is wonderfully evocative of that era, and I really appreciate the human dimension that Kahn so ably weaves into the book. The old ballplayers really come alive in full color, and of course black and white. Who cares about the Brooklyn Dodgers? Well, bless my soul, now I do!

I look forward to when my two young children are old enough to watch baseball with me. I miss talking baseball with my now dead father.

Holy cow.

The reason I gave this book five stars is because I'm not allowed to give it six. This is simply the best baseball book I've ever read, and that's a fairly long list. I can't say enough positive things about this book.

It should be noted that I was a sports writer for 8 years and was early in my career when I read this book. I was enthralled by the first part of the book, which not only provided insight into two prototypical Brooklyn Dodgers seasons (great team, fell short of winning a championship), but it also took me into the fascinating world of journalism in the 1950s. It was exciting and eye-opening.

The second part of the book includes stories of Kahn visiting players from those teams many years later. You can't believe how interesting this is. The story of Billy Cox is touching. The story of Duke Snider offers great insight into the superstar outfielder. Roy Campanella's story is tragic. I've read three or four books by Kahn and all are good, but this is at an entirely different level. Someday I will read this book again when it's been long enough so that it can feel like I'm reading it for the first time.

Certainly, this book does not need another adoring review from a nostalgic fan who never saw the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers play. It is universally regarded as a classic in its field. I am an avid baseball fan who devours baseball books yet, amazingly, I never read it. I always thought that this was little more than a fan's love letter to his favorite team, a perennial also-ran who couldn't get past the mighty Yankees. It is not. This book is so much more than that: it is a document of an era and a reflection upon that era and the ways that our society changed during the 15 or so subsequent years.

In ways perhaps unique in baseball literature, Roger Kahn manages to bring alive the feeling of the era. In a poignant poetic style, Kahn describes growing up as a Dodger fan, and the trials and tribulations of the 1952-53 Dodgers, as viewed from the perspective of a fan and a young news writer. Much of it is cast in a rosy glow; yet all the attendant ugliness of the era is neither ignored nor dismissed. It seems somewhat diminished however, as bad things typically happened to other people. The most touching moments are Kahn's personal moments, be they with his family or his team.

The second part of the book, in which years later, Kahn seeks out the members of his team, takes the narrative to a much higher plane. Not merely asking the aging idols to nostalgically remember "the good old days", he instead prods greater reflection from the men. As aging athletes, they all had to come to terms with their mortality in ways that the rest of us do not, and at an age that the rest of us do not. Most of us do not start really feeling our age until our children are grown, and our careers are winding down, and we are facing retirement. Athletes reach that point in life far earlier than the rest of us. While a man (or woman) working, say in the insurance industry, will continue to grow and become more capable throughout their working career, an athlete must change careers, if he is lucky, in his late 30's.

This particular group of athletes was remarkable for another reason. They played alongside Jackie Robinson, and thus desegregated major league baseball, and thereby, personified a great deal of hope for a great many men and women. Hope that not only could Black Americans achieve the same success as white Americans, but that they could get along with each other in the process. By being on the same team, the same side, men who otherwise might have been stunted by their own preconceptions and limitations and bigotries learned to admire and even like other men very different from them.

They also aged during a very tumultuous period in America's cultural development. The Vietnam War was at its peak while Kahn wrote this book, black-white relations in America were perhaps at their most volatile ever. Two players saw their sons fight in Vietnam and return changed - one mentally, the other physically and mentally. Another had a special needs child, at a time when there still were not many services for such children. Other players had come from backgrounds where blacks were not welcome, and returned to such places, no longer sharing that feeling. You get the sense in this book that they are no longer at one with their hometown because of their experiences playing alongside black men.

Plus, the Dodgers left Brooklyn. Their team no longer even existed. The LA Dodgers were not the Brooklyn Dodgers. Truly, an era had ended. Not an era of innocence, nor one that could really be considered "the good old days", although we are often wont to refer to the 1950's as both. But an era of growth, of optimism, of shared experiences for these athletes, and perhaps, vicariously, for their fans.

Never really a dedicated sports fan, but a voracious and eclectic reader familiar with its reputation, I approached THE BOYS OF SUMMER fully expecting an excellent book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, but unprepared for what I found.

Less a team history than a memoir of the best of times and the worst of times, author Roger Kahn, a former sportswriter for the late NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, has accomplished the nearly impossible task of preserving an era in amber.

At the outset, we are introduced to Kahn's endearingly pretentious and unusual family: The father, Gordon, called "Gore-DON" by his wife, Olga, both teachers; the maternal grandfather, Dr. Rockow, a refugee of the Russian Revolution who obtained his Doctorate of Dentistry in Bern, Switzerland; the deceased grandmother, who, before her death at forty, had acheived a European M.D. Degree in an era when most women in her world were barely literate, much less successfully professional; the younger sister, Emily, stricken with polio; and Roger himself, a well-educated young man whose passion was Dodger baseball.

[A previous reviewer is critical of the "Marxism" of the book, but obviously, s/he did not read past page thirty; in painting us a living portrait of his family, Kahn tells us that they read, among many others, "Karl Marx and Freud," and refers affectionately to his Russian-Jewish immigrant grandfather as an "old Marxist toothpuller." Kahn's family was somewhat unusual for its time in being stolidly and successfully middle-class and firmly dedicated to Middle European humanist intellectualism in Depression-era, overwhelmingly blue-collar Jewish Brooklyn; but to call this book "Marxist" or equate it with DAS KAPITAL is to say that THE CAT IN THE HAT is equivalent to GRAY'S ANATOMY because it was written by a Dr. Seuss.]

Living within view of Ebbet's Field, baseball was central to Roger's summer universe. This centrality was reinforced by his erudite father, who, when not discussing Joyce and Flaubert at the dinner table, was playing endless games of catch with his son and regularly taking him to games. With no appreciation of sports, Olga, "who had pretentions toward atheism" pleaded with God to intervene: "Please let him read one book; just ONE book." God's choice for Roger was FUNDAMENTALS OF PITCHING, which he carried around with him for weeks.

Whether Olga appreciated it or not, Roger was developing a Love For The Game, and he became the HERALD TRIBUNE's point man at Ebbet's Field just as the Dodgers emerged from a decades-long obscurity to become not only one of the preeminent franchises in baseball history, but also an historic team.

The Brooklyn Dodgers had always been iconoclastic. The only Major League team representing only a portion of it's home city (granted, Brooklyn had been an independent city until 1898), the team members lived locally and were well-known in their various Brooklyn neighborhoods.

From 1921 to 1938, the Dodgers were barely competitive. A chronically bankrupt franchise locally beloved but belittled as "dem bums," the fog began to lift in the War Years. The Dodgers captured a pennant in 1941. From 1941 to 1945 they played hard, but wartime manpower needs kept the team from truly excelling. It was not until 1947 that the Dodgers blossomed.

And as they blossomed, they made history as well, being the first modern Major League team to sign a black player, Jackie Robinson. Despite being vilified by certain elements, Robinson was MVP and led them to stellar heights. And despite a plethora of personal opinions about Robinson, the team as a whole responded positively to Robinson's amazing energy, and played magnificently for the next decade. Though not every Dodger was dedicated to Civil Rights, only one, aptly named Dixie Walker, asked to be traded, and was. The rest eventually accepted Number 42 as a teammate, and either liked him or loathed him for himself.

Perennial Pennant winners, they nonetheless could never overcome the dominance of their crosstown American League rivals, the Yankees, even in 1953, when they statistically outplayed the famed Murderers' Row team of 1927. The Dodger lament was always "Wait 'Til Next Year." It was not until 1955 that they could proudly claim, "This IS Next Year!"

But by then, the team had aged, Robinson was gone, and Kahn, too, had moved on. The last trolleys ran in Brooklyn in October of 1956, and with no more trolleys to dodge, the Dodgers vanished from Brooklyn in 1957 and took up residence in Los Angeles. Kahn ends the first half of his book by recounting the death of his father, but it is only one ending among many in that time.

Part Two of THE BOYS OF SUMMER brings us The Boys of Summer" in their autumn. Written in 1971, the book provides a series of encapsulated snapshots of each of the former team members in their fifties, some fat, some thin, some embittered, some wistful, some successful and some lost in time. The Boys in their age largely returned to their roots, most of them to little towns in the South and Midwest where they ran lumberyards, coached Little League, and were Presidents of their local Rotaries. Each has a story to tell, and so much of what made the Dodgers a truly great team is revealed in these pages.

Jackie Robinson stands out. It is hard, sixty years later, to realize how daring owner Branch Rickey was to sign Robinson at that time, and how difficult Robinson's journey was. "Brown v. Board of Education" was still seven years in the future, Jim Crow was rampant, Dr. King's Montgomery Bus Boycott was a decade away, and still Robinson overcame all obstacles, mostly because of his iron determination off the field and his spectacular talent on the field, attributes which his teammates, and then his opponents, came to respect.

The team's sudden, unexpected departure from Brooklyn is still lamented, and then-owner Walter O'Malley is still hated for it: "If a Brooklynite with a gun has only two bullets and Hitler, Mussolini and O'Malley are his targets, who does he shoot? O'Malley---twice."

Although some reviewers accuse Kahn of revisionism in his treatment of O'Malley, a close reading of the last chapters reveals something different. While most Brooklynites' long-standing hatred of O'Malley is real, it is the hatred of the townsman for the corporation that closes the mill, throwing the factory town into crisis---personal, and yet remote.

The bitterness remains. The Los Angeles Dodgers are still often referred to as the Los Angeles Traitors. In this reviewer's family, Dodger defeats, particularly to the Mets at Shea or to the Yankees, are greeted with, "Take that! That's what you get for leaving!" And it's been fifty years since they've gone. Of course, the Dodgers were in Brooklyn for seventy years beforehand.

Kahn's hatred of O'Malley is more immediate and visceral than the average fan's. He so clearly utterly despises O'Malley, who comes across as a self-proclaimed Manhattanite, a rude, self-righteous, pompous, wealthy and greedy snob, a businessman with no interest in baseball, a seeker only of the greenback who cared not at all for fan affections, and who dismissed Brooklyn as the Provinces; in short a man who deserved, and perhaps even wanted, to be hated.

The Irish Catholic O'Malley proclaimed himself a "Tory." He fined staffers a dollar each time they mentioned Branch Rickey by name. Robinson was a showboater in his estimation, and it was New York's fault the Dodgers left---if Brooklyn had wanted the team Brooklyn should have met his demands for a new stadium and other concessions.

With no Love of The Game, O'Malley's decision to move the team was based, solely and selfishly, on his desire to line his own pockets (he was always notoriously cheap with fans, players, and staffers), and to create his own power dynasty far from the interference of the New York Elites, to whom he was an also-ran.

Many people have written that the Dodgers left because "Brooklyn was changing" as "white flight" drove the middle classes to the suburbs. This ignores the fact that many areas did not change demographically, and that the process was neither sudden nor total. It also discounts the fact that minorities are not immune to an appreciation of the National Pastime. It ignores the fact that the Dodger departure was not so much an effect as a cause of these changes. Local historians mark 1957 as the end of an era in Brooklyn history.

Lastly, although the Borough was changing, it was also remaining the same, as the home of newly-arrived immigrant minorities. Brooklyn could (and should) have remained the home of this beloved team. It was thriving and would have continued to thrive. As Kahn says: "In a perfect world, Brooklyn would have the Dodgers and the Mets would be in Los Angeles."

Would that it were.

I am not a huge fan of chick lit, but "What Comes After Crazy" is a delightful read. It was recommended to me by someone who knows I love Anne Tyler. While this isn't in that same caliber (it's much less literary) I can see why a comparison might be made. Both authors provide domestic novels full of colorful, ramshackle lives. Once I knew it was about a fortune teller's daughter with an estranged husband who is a religious con man, I knew it was up my alley.

While I didn't love everything about it (I could have done without the overly ideal Dr. Dan), it is definitely a highlight of my reading so far this year. I look forward to the author's other books.

This is the story of Maz, who has 2 children in Connecticut, a husband in Santa Fe, and a fortune-telling mother who just married her sixth husband.

I thought a couple of the reviews above were off. I didn't think the sex scenes were coarse, and I didn't think Maz was curmudgeonly. Maz is a likable woman whose life is a little out of control, but it's an exciting ride to read about.

When Maz's unreliable husband and crazy mother descend on her house in Connecticut, that's when the fun begins.

I don't want to give away too much about the plot, but if you like domestic fiction written by women, it's almost a sure bet that you'll enjoy this. It reminded me a bit of Anne Tyler, but slightly earthier and more dramatic.

...I just didn't like this book. I found it to be dull...there is so much farce that it becomes overloading. I wanted desperately to love it, but just couldn't seem to get past the ridiculous drama. I didn't find it to be a fun read; I found it be a stressful one.

There are some wonderful, fun books in this genre. This is just one that didn't resonate with me.

I absolutely loved "What Comes After Crazy". Sandi Kahn Shelton has created characters who you really care about, particularly Maz and her daughters. I even cared about her crazy mother, Lucille. These are all characters who you feel like you know, not just on the page, but in real life, because they are tangible in the way that characters in a book rarely are. I strongly recommend this book!

I loved this book because of the way the main character, Maz, deals with her own complicated life with humor and love. She just keeps plugging along, even though she was raised by a less-than-adequate mom and has to learn how to cope as an adult. I even loved Madame Lucille, crazy and wacky as she is. All the characters came alive. I don't think this book is a farce at all! It has a lot to say about our own crazy lives and the people who drive us a little bit nuts and how we learn to love them when we can, but eventually to rely on ourselves. I thought it was a fun book and a good read.