Baseball

by David Colbert

For more than a century, baseball has been deeply embedded in the American psyche, and there is no surer sign of this than the impression it has made on our greatest writers and artists. Baseball: The National Pastime in Art and Literature brings together the most beloved works on this quintessentially American game. You'll find moments of baseball history, and timeless moments, too. Here is the most compelling fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about baseball from the likes of Doris Kearns Goodwin, W.P. Kinsella, Roger Angell, Stephen King, Annie Dillard, Pete Hamill, Sherwood Anderson, and A. Bartlett Giamati. Here, too, are stunning visual representations--paintings, drawings, sculpture, folk art, magazine covers--by artists that run the gamut from Thomas Eakins and Currier & Ives to Norman Rockwell to Andy Warhol and Elaine de Kooning. The selections range from the beginning of baseball time to the present-day battles of the home-run kings. You sit in the stands at a country ballpark, and swing for glory in Yankee Stadium. Players, both real and imagined, come to life: DiMaggio and Robinson and Ruth, of course; and also Bernard Malamud's Roy Hobbs--the Natural--and William Brashler's Bingo Long. The writers and artists trace the line of baseball experience through our lives--from carefree childhood through the struggles and triumphs of adulthood. Together, they speak eloquently of our nation's intimate relationship with the sport. Baseball: The National Pastime in Art and Literature is an elegant tribute to the magic and metaphors of the game and its deep connections to all of us.

Genres: Baseball

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001