It Happened in Wisconsin

by Ken Moraff

In an America ravaged by the Great Depression, a talented but ragtag baseball team sets out to change the world. Barnstorming the back roads and dusty ballparks of the Midwest, the Racine Robins rally fans to the populist cause, raising money for soup kitchens and strike funds even as they thrill small-town crowds and dazzle opponents on the field. Yet winning the hearts and minds of the people turns out to be easier for the players than facing the twin seductions of love and money, conflicting desires that threaten to derail everything they are fighting to achieve.

After a sudden April snowstorm forces the Robins to find shelter in the Rockefeller hotel, the team begins to pull apart. Tensions mount—one player falls in love for the first time—and old friendships threaten to unravel as the men face temptations and ambition. Can this tough, tight-knit group stay true to its great cause when dreams and longing come knocking?

Genres: Sports, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Baseball

268 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2013

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Racine Robins are on a mission to change the world. Rather than playing baseball just to become rich and famous, they want to contribute to society, to give to the poor and disadvantaged, to share the profit they make at their games with those worse off than themselves. They drive around the American Midwest playing minor league games and offering hope and inspiration to their many fans. But it’s not always possible to hold to your convictions. Sometimes the lure of money and fame can be overwhelming. And sometimes holding on to your beliefs can mean making more of a sacrifice than just giving away some money.
This is a wonderfully heart-warming story, told from the perspective of one of the original Racine Robins as he ends his days in a nursing home and looks back at his life. He takes stock and wonders whether his fight against injustice was worth it. The book is very much a polemic against corporate greed and is as relevant to our modern day society as it was to America during the Depression, when the book is set. Baseball is certainly at its heart, but it’s about much more than a sport, it’s about the choices we make in life, the path we take, the decisions we make, about morality and ethics, and of course, love.
I loved this little book. The characters are deftly drawn and very real, the issues topical, and the values of the Racine Robins still worth adhering to. Highly recommended.

[Alec · Rating 2 out of 5]

No half stars allowed on Goodreads. That's probably okay since it forces a person to be critical when debating between a higher and lower score. The premise of this book, its price (free through my Amazon Prime account), and the beginning pages were enough to keep me reading. However, the end result was not as promising as the idea of this book.

On the good side, the author did an amazing job writing about two people falling in love. This wasn't one of those relationships that built over time, but rather the kind of falling in love one of my friends refers to as "bag of rocks" (as in, "I fell for her like a bag of rocks."). The story bounced between times and events as told through the recollections of an old man. While the story focused on the narrator's relationship and the struggle the narrator felt between sacrificing his lifestyle for his one true love the book warranted a higher rating. However, while the story labored through the title event, the book slowed, the politics seemed heavy handed, and I struggled to maintain interest.

I finished the book in a relatively short amount of time which is more a reflection of being on a plane for 5 hours than a indication of being unable to stop reading. All of the elements of a really good book were there, it just ended up being like a batch of cinnamon rolls with too much flour and not enough cinnamon sugar to be perfect.

[Pamela Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had just finished the baseball-themed book The Art of Fielding when this book was delivered so I was in a baseball frame of mind. I was into it by a few pages and knew I was going to enjoy reading this. Character development was great. In one spot there is a heavy discussion around a dinner table. Everyone leaned in to listen...even me! The author made me feel as if I was there in the room. Excellent job. I was shocked to see it's the author's first novel. His writing feels very experienced. In several spots he transitions from the character's present to his past and does it very well. The flow is amazing. It's a good read. A simple story that many can remember by ancestral stories, books or movies. The basic concept behind the story of ideals, decisions and even fate itself is identifiable even by today's standards. This makes it relevant to readers of today. I highly recommend this book.

[Mom2nine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very pleasant surprise. I entered the goodreads contest, because I grew up near where the story is based. I certainly was not interested in baseball of any type: minor or major league and was uncertain if I wanted to read a sports related story. This book is so much more than all that! The story is told by an elderly man looking back over his life. He is remembering his team, their friendships and commitment to each other. He reminisces about the times and the economic difficulties, if there was anything a single person, or a team, could do to make a difference. Depth to the story found in choices made, allegiances tested (and decided) sides drawn. I so enjoyed the main character explaining his relationship and his love for the "one who got away", the depth of the everyday and mundane. More to the story than I can put into words. A wonderful first book which flows very smoothly between the past and the present.
goodreads.com contest win, love this site ;)

[Reed · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get through it. It over played the corporations are evil, workers are innocent card. Every other page the author adds to his overall argument that workers are the source of all good in America. While I truly sympathize with the argument, it was too much. Way too much. I couldn't get past it. It may have been a decent book, but it lost me. This seems to be a response to the fight to protect collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, it struck out.

[Charie La Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I won the at Good Reads and thanks to the author and publisher.

I love baseball - and I love baseball books. And this is a good one. The story of an idealistic team of baseball players who barnstorm the northern part of America's midwest during the Great Depression hits pretty close to home in today's America. People out of work, soup kitchens overflowing with hungry children, people working for wages that don't come close to making ends meet. Sound familiar? It is a theme torn right from the newspapers and moved back to the Depression.

Told by a pitcher, now elderly and in a nursing home, it is the story of a team that gets along with no manager because they oppose "bosses" - a team that not only thrills people on the field, but shows up at labor rallies and donates large portions of the gate to locals in need.

And it is good. It is a feel good book that makes you care about every single one of the players and made me love baseball even more (if that is possible). It also made me think a lot about the sacrifices young kids make to play "the game" they love - often sacrificing their own chances at love and happiness.

I give it four stars - It lost one for it's trashing of my beloved Yankees. Whenever you want a team to hate, it's always the Yankees. It's almost a cliche. You either love the Yankees or hate them, and to these guys, the Yankees represent everything that is wrong with the world. Why not the Dodgers? Or the White Sox? Nope - always the Yankees.

Other than that, it is a perfect read if you care about the problems faced by the working class today. And if you love baseball. I highly recommend it. Would make a cool movie.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this via Goodreads giveaways, not something I would typically read, but since my brother just moved to Wisconsin, I thought it might be a nice gift for him. The story is well told, sort of a memoir with social consciousness, and it was at times very funny, poignant, and sad. Loved the main character, just the type of elder citizen you love to meet, with crazy life stories and a bit of the curmudgeon in him. It seemed to drag a bit in the middle, especially in the dinner and breakfast scenes with Spencer, but it picked up again after that and ended well. Since I have cared for 2 elders in my family, I thought it was very accurate in describing the thoughts and care of that generation as they age and become dependent upon others. Has a pro union bent and exhibits care for our fellow man which I also liked. Enjoyed it! Thanks Goodreads!

[Mark Bony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better books that I have read recently. It is more than a story about baseball. It is a story about a man who is too committed to his cause and doesn't see what is really important in life. This is the auther's first book and I am amazed at how well he can write. The characters really come to life in this book. There is also a sex act description written with a socialism theme that the author must have had a lot of fun writing. The book was a sad story, but thought provoking and enjoyable.

[Dennis M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written book, especially for a first novel. Closest I've come to real "literature" in a while. Sweet and a bit sad; love and loss; friendship and betrayal; karma; idealism and pragmatism; dreams realized, dreams lost.

Ken does a nice job of evoking a time and place that has faded into history and he does it in an intriguing, humorous, and tender way. A story that sucks you in right away and does not let go until the last page is read - even then it will stay with you for a while.

Makes you realize that there may be an amazing story under the surface of that Average Joe you see every day. About two thirds of the way through Ken becomes a bit wordy, but he has a destination in mind and he knows how to get there! Just trust him.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off fairly well, but it was very hard to finish it because the author kept jumping around from place to place as well as one day you’re young – then switching to an older version of the same character then back to young again. This is not a baseball novel, but more of a manifesto of a socialistic state promotional tour. I’d give this one a pass.

[Jena · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does it mean to believe in an ideal? How much would you give up for a cause?

A minor league baseball team rallys support and funds for populist causes during the great Depression. Years later the narrator recounts the story them getting trapped in a hotel in a snow storm and analyzes what it means to devote yourself to an idea and if it is worth it or not.

[Aaron G Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't what I thought it was going to be. Not much baseball. Now was it a bad book? No it was a nostalgic kind of book with depression era issues and a simpler way of life and love. I just wish our protagonist wouldn't have had such a sad life after baseball. He deserved more.

[Du · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho hum

I wanted to like this, but couldn't really enjoy it. The friend's relationship is interesting and the love story seems well thought out, but the pacing staffed and the tone was unbalanced. I love baseball and find it a slog to get through.

[Bud Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable depression-era story. Loved the description of characters and baseball-related episodes. A bit melancholic. At times funny, poignant, and sad.

[Lynn Broaddus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Wisconsin, baseball, history, and socialism all rolled into one fantastic rollick.

[Jon Finkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. Thought I'd eased my way into a lazy trip with a barnstorming Depression-era baseball team and instead got an over-justified and regret-laden missive about staying true to the cause and railing against well, just about everything. Which can be fine, if that's what you're after. If not, not so much.

[Schuyler Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ken Moraff has written the quintessential book of reflection. In IT HAPPENED IN WISCONSIN an old man living in a rest home spends most of time thinking about the past and remembering his days as a barnstorming baseball player. Memories pop up, painting vivid pictures that lead to more that are mostly about idealism and camaraderie with a little baseball thrown in.

He was part of a group of idealists who loved baseball and the chance to bring joy to other people. They clattered around the upper Midwest in an old bus, eating whatever they could afford, sleeping in dingy quarters, and playing ball in minicities like Kenosha or Wausau or Dubuque. They were popular, their games were eagerly awaited and well attended, and, after their meager living costs were recouped, they gave the proceeds to the needy of the area.

The unlikely part of the story, about a tight group of talented ballplayers who would sacrifice their younger years to such indolence in favor of high ideals, is handled in remarkable fashion by the author. He is able to convince the reader that such quixotic behavior could happen.

The narrator, from his rest home haven, remembers it all with fondness. The author uses an interesting technique of having the old man ask his readers questions about his actions, his emotions, and his thoughts. What would you have done? You agree with that, don’t you? Could I have done that better? Those types of questions are numerous throughout the book and add an interesting perspective on the elder gentleman’s reflections. I found myself answering them and eagerly reading on to see if I had caught the point.

Along with their love of the lifestyle, the players are deeply bonded by a disdain for capitalism, physically and vocally rejecting it. Their ties are strong. All attempts to split them up are doomed to failure. Romances that threaten to upset the brotherhood are discarded for the good of the team—bringing some regret in later years. A wealthy man tries to split them up with his glib tongue, beautiful daughter, and an enticing glimpse of life in the big leagues. The player that unwisely succumbs to his siren’s song meets with misfortune. The old man seems to luxuriate in his recollections, even finding the tenderness of his young nurse to be stimulating, bringing to his mind some of his earlier adventures with women.

The writing is strong and well organized. The dialogue is realistic. The characters are well defined. The infrequent baseball scenes are carefully written and bring back fond memories, although I would have appreciated more depth here. Most of all, I appreciate Moraff’s use of polite language and discretion in his verbal exchanges. Seductions take three or four pages to be consummated, and, in the end, the act is portrayed by the unbuttoning of a couple of buttons or the tender exchange of a sigh. There is no unsightly ogling or obscene banter by the team members.

I recommend this book as a gentle and pleasing read, full of reflection and musings that will introduce the reader to the careful workmanship and storytelling of a considerate author. Extremely well done.

[Brad Hodges · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's nothing like a good baseball book to chase away the winter blues. Unfortunately, Ken Moraff's It Happened in Wisconsin is not that. It's not really a baseball book, though baseball players are the characters. It's more of a political allegory--how to reconcile idealistic leftist beliefs with the real world.

The novel is set in the '30s. The Racine Robins are a D-League team that barnstorms the country, from Binghamton to Topeka, with Major League-quality players. But they aren't interested in the trappings of fame. They are committed socialists, red jockstrap players, so to speak, who turn over the proceeds of their games to the poor and to labor organizations. They are so egalitarian that they don't have a manager.

"We knew how it worked on other teams. The star slugger had special privileges, the pitching ace had a private hotel room. They might even pay certain players a larger salary--as if a batting average had anything to do with a man's needs, or the needs of his family. Can you imagine? What reason could there be to divide men like that? To sort them into grades, one more privileged than the next." This is the unnamed narrator of the book, the team's pitcher, and it's kind of a ridiculous statement. Where else but sports is a meritocracy more natural, where results can be measured? Clearly professional sports and socialism can't exist side by side, but I'm not sure if Moraff knows that or is just having a joke.

The team gets snowed in a hotel in Wisconsin. The very name of the place--the John D. Rockefeller, makes them bristle. They meet a businessman, Spencer, who says he is a fan, but is something like a metaphor for the serpent in the garden of Eden. He buys them dinner, but picks away at their beliefs, telling them they should be earning more money, so they can give the money away. He also tells them that there is such a thing as fate, but the most radical member of the team, the catcher, Ozzie, points out that that is the argument of the bosses--it's fate that some are poor and some are rich, and believing so keeps the poor people down.

Eventually Mike, the narrator's best friend, is wooed by Spencer's talk and his nubile young daughter, and succumbs to the lure and signs with the New York Yankees, the epitome of what the Robins think is wrong with the world. But this reminds the narrator, who is reminiscing while living in a nursing home, about how he let his ideals let the woman of his dreams get away. Did he do the right thing?

This is occasionally an interesting book, but overly didactic and not really for baseball fans, as it doesn't feature any actual playing of baseball. I'm as lefty as the next guy, but even I can understand how people who have more talent and more responsibility should earn more than people who don't. However, the core message of the book: "The team has come first. Doesn't it?" is a good one, until the team must come second to the individual.

It Happened in Wisconsin is a noble effort, but an unsatisfactory one.

[Seth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I checked this little winner out from the Amazon Prime lending library.

It's about a 1930s minor league team known as the Racine Robins, who aren't so much baseball players as they are crusaders seeking to right the wrongs put upon good, hard-working Americans by evil corporations. They don't have a manager, drive their own bus, and keep only enough of their gate to subsist on. The rest of the profits go to helping the poor and the hungry. And probably paying labor bosses although the book doesn't explicitly say so.

The writing is actually good enough in the first few chapters to get you interested in the characters and their backgrounds. But then you get to the halfway point of the book and realize that. . . nothing is going to happen in the book. It's just a vehicle for socialist propaganda. I finished reading it anyways, and I was right.

The book is narrated by a nameless member of the team, who by his account was a star pitcher although who knows because there was maybe three pages of actual baseball action in this book. He speaks retrospectively of the good ol' days when he and his best friends/teammates were out to save the world from greed. In present days, he's a sad old man in a rest home who passes the time perving over his young nurse.

I don't necessarily disagree with all of the ideals put forth in this book, but there's a reason in society why businesses aren't managed by the people, for the people. It's because it doesn't work. There's a reason teams have managers. It's because they would suck otherwise.

But in the author's well-crafted cheesy Wisconsin bubble, all the players are completely selfless and never seek their own interest! And of course, they are also all good enough to play in the major leagues, if only they were willing to stoop so low! And so, in the pages of this idealistic tale, it works perfectly! It's only fiction, after all!

(There are so many exclamation points in this book!)

The arguments against "the system" are interesting for awhile, but the author just continues to beat you over the head with them, again and again and again, until mercifully, the pages go all white. I'm assuming that meant the book was over and not that I was beaten into submission.

There's a subplot involving the narrator's lost love. But is it really a subplot when there is no main plot? That's a question to ponder on when you're not out organizing labor unions.

[Dale White · Rating 3 out of 5]

All novels are, more or less, based on some kind of "what if" scenario. It Happened in Wisconsin takes that idea one step further by having the characters, the main character especially, question their own decisions.

We begin with a baseball team that is so idealistic that they give away all of their profits to soup kitchens and union halls as they barnstorm around the US during the Depression. The team and their ideals mean everything to them. The narrator (who is telling the story from a nursing home 6o or so years later) even has to decide between the woman he loves and the ideals of the team. In retrospect he wonders if he made the right decision.

The real conflict in the story occurs when they are stranded by a snowstorm in the middle of Wisconsin and stay at a hotel where they meet Spencer, a rich businessman who is purportedly a fan, but also a tempter. He questions the team's idealism, suggesting that they would be better off and be able to do more by playing in a higher level league and making more money.

A long dinner conversation (continued over breakfast) between Spencer and the two most hardline teammates takes up a good portion of the book. There is much speculation about fate and whether or not the team has or will have any say in whether or not they are successful at beating the system. Does it really matter what we do or don't do as the future will come as it comes. But despite being sympathetic to the team's ideals, they lost me with the argument that they couldn't take more money by working for the wealthy owners because where did that money come from but the backs of workers. True enough. But where does the money come from that they get at games. The hard earned cash of workers who themselves got it from the wealthy industrialists.

That argument aside the real crisis occurs when Mike the narrator's best friend is not only tempted with the offer to play for the Yankees but also falls head over heels in love with Spencer's daughter. His decision also leaves us wondering "what if?"

I quite enjoyed the dilemma faced by the characters as they were forced to choose between love, money, fame and the idealism represented by the team. But the characters and their decisions did play a secondary role. Too often I felt I was being preached to rather than letting the character's and their actions determine how I felt.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tough book to rate. The prose was wonderful, the descriptions so vivid I could place myself in the setting. Where the book suffers is in plot development. Some scenes are too long, like when Spencer and Effie are debating fate vs self will while competing to see who can eat the most breakfast. I thought it would never end. Others are too short. I would have liked to know what happened when the character left baseball.

The book is uneven when jumping from the past to the current day in the nursing home. Changes in a scene are usually marked somehow, but where the author uses asterisks doesn't make sense because the scene continues, and in other places a change is not marked.

My problem with the book was not the politics. Other reviewers took issue with it, and while it's heavy handed, I could accept that it's the character's view, and based on the setting of the Great Depression, it made sense. I don't think the issue between fate and will was ever resolved because while the character held with his ideals, the circumstances of his life don't totally support that. I guess that was the point.

The character's wishy-washy attitude toward his lost love Nancy was frustrating. Even when he reflected on what he could have said to her he says he doesn't know if it was the truth. It seemed to be, but he wouldn't admit it to himself, and that made me not like him. And what was his name? If it was given I missed it.

While I would have liked to have seen more baseball in this story, that wasn't the reason for my low rating. As I said plot and pacing were major problems. The book has such great potential that I have to think a content editor who would have pointed out flow issues and cut down some scenes would have improved the book considerably. Old people often ramble, but presenting a novel that way only puts off readers who will lose patience with it quickly.

What sealed my decision on rating this book was the ending. While we did find out what happened to Nancy and Mike (the two characters most remembered by the old man) it's done in a rushed manner and the book ends with Mike being ordered to run to first even while injured because that's what he's being paid for. That's it. The end. I just didn't get it.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Publishers Weekly
From his room in a nursing home, the narrator of this spellbinding novel looks back on his youth as a pitcher on a Midwestern regional baseball team during the Depression. No ordinary team, the players treat each other as equals and decline to have a manager. They give away as much of their take from each game as they can to local needy families. But their socialist dream is threatened when, forced to stop at an inn in a Wisconsin snowstorm, a fellow guest tries to lure one of the best players away from the team. The unnamed narrator weaves the story of that night with his memory of his love affair with Nancy, a waitress in Binghamton, circling around as he steadily reveals that these were the pivotal events in his life. This isn't a happy story, but it's an engrossing, satisfying one.
*************************************************************


This is not a book about baseball. It uses baseball and the team mentality to offer thought-provoking insights into '
how the rich use and manipulate the poor and whether we can control our own lives or is it fate.

I loved the book and recommend it.
.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclosure: I received this for free through a Goodreads' First Reads giveaway.

Review: This novel is about a Depression-era minor leagues baseball team that travels around the Midwest, with the goal of using baseball to help those in need. It's a nice enough premise, and the team in the story, the Robins, does seem to help those in need, but the author goes too far with the 'owners/bosses are evil and the workers are good' theme.

There are points the author makes that I do agree with, however, the entire book read as a political rant, or something similar, and it was difficult to stomach. It was annoying to reread the same ideological rant over and over and over again, especially because nothing new was added to the argument after the first point or two were made.

There is a love story in the novel that is interesting to watch develop, but beyond that, I didn't care much for this particular read. The author's writing style was engaging enough, but that was about it.

[Jo-Ann Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing was very descriptive. I could hear the roar of the crowds and the crack of the bat and smell the leather and the bus fumes. This book took you back into the idealistic baseball teams during the depression who worked to try to make the world a better place. It talks about the labor movement and the struggle for a better life for the working person.

However it is a sad story about putting ideals above actually living your life. The main character missed opportunities by preferring the idea over reality.

The writing draws the reader into the life of this traveling team as they begin their lives and assess their choices. I think it should be required reading to show the parallels of the struggle of working people then and today. We are facing the same challenges since the laws that provided stability in the economy for 50 years have been destroyed and thrown the working man back into the world of income inequality, poor working conditions, and no representation.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story begins like any story a man talking, but you find out a little while into the book the person telling the story is in a retirement home and he is telling a story of a year when he was traveling with a minor league baseball team in the north mid-west. He was a pitcher and as they were traveling he is telling the different stories that happened this one year. And the year it snowed so much that they got stuck in a town and all of the different happenings that was going on. Some of the players wanting to quit another getting married on the field before the game. Stories like that. Even some rich man trying to buy some of the better players. I found each either funny or sad but I think it is up to you the reader to come to your own conclusions. The person telling the story you never find out which person (name) he is, but I got the feeling he was looking back at being younger and the days were fun and care free. A very good baseball book. I got this book from net galley.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know where this book was going when I started, was it a book about baseball, a book about unions and anti-business during the depression or was it about relationships and reflections on life? Well once I reached that last chapter, I realized that it was all of the above. A book that uses baseball as the backstory, the narrator's relationship with Nancy and his teammates, and then, the story with Spencer and using money to buy status.

IN the end, this book did what I like books to do, reflect on my life, make you understand that while the past may be the past, it is also really important.

[Hal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't what I expected it to be. I thought it was going to be a story about a bottom-league team tooling around the midwest playing similar teams -- what it was like being in such a group and a colorful description of life on the road.

Instead of this I got an thinly disguised socio-political economic polemic that became more tedious and tiresome as the story continued. It was strictly a story of us vs. them, little guy vs. the big guy, the down-trodden vs. the master class. It was truly too bad the author went this direction. He did a real good job of turning his characters into real people and his writing was good. But he just let it go to waste.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautifully written, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, there was politics - but as it's a major plot point and this is fiction, I don't see why anyone should be upset by it (also, the politics are historically accurate, whether you like that or not). Granted, if you were expecting a run-of-the-mill gung-ho sports book, you might be disappointed - but that's not what this is, nor what it was meant to be. This is fine literary fiction, and should be appreciated as such. It won the 2013 ABNA for General Fiction, and I think it deserved that award. I hope this author can give us some more of the same down the road.

[Lissa00 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A baseball team travels the Midwest with the earnest goal of earning money and playing for the downtrodden during the Great Depression. Along the way they are faced with choices concerning love and money that change the team dynamic. I liked this book and the characters. At times, there was a lot of philosophizing about fate and choice and the best way to contribute to society. These scenes got old, fast and the book would have been much better without them. Otherwise, this is a solidly good book.

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I am so grateful to have won this in a giveaway! I enjoyed the though-provoking prose. It was a book that read like a discussion. It moves back in forth in this man's history, but it was written like a person thinks and talks so it is not so hard to follow. I was captivated by the us vs. them of labor vs. corporate. It delves in to the human condition and, even though it takes place in the 30s and 40s, I could very easily bring the story into the current times with the issues plaguing our country right now. I appreciate the drive and idealism of the men in this book.