Jerome Charyn is one of the most important writers in American literature and one of only three now writing whose work makes me truly happy to be a reader. - Michael Chabon
-- Michael ChabonCharyn [...] is an American treasure.... Among this book's virtues are brilliant passages of impassioned writing, [...] and Charyn's mastery of the popular culture in which baseball legends belong and thrive.-Neil D. Isaacs, author of The Great Molinas and All the Moves
-- Neil D. IsaacsThis book has captured DiMaggio's centrality in American popular culture at midcentury-how he became an American icon, how he wrestled with his celebrity, how he constructed stunted and complex personal relationships, especially with his fellow icon Marilyn Monroe.-Aram Goudsouzian, author, King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution
-- Aram GoudsouzianCharyn [...] is an American treasure...The richness of his imagination, the variety and volume of his fictive worlds, [...] and the prodigious illumination of character through dialogue, are all part of his accomplishment. In a distinguished book editor's pet phrase, 'he writes like an angel.' His psychological acumen is revealed virtually throughout his corpus, not by a belaboring of analysis but by a defining moment, a salient tic, a self-revealing turn of phrase. [...] Among this book's virtues are brilliant passages of impassioned writing, [...] and Charyn's mastery of the popular culture in which baseball legends belong and thrive.-Neil D. Isaacs, author of The Great Molinas and All the Moves
-- Neil D. IsaacsJerome Charyn's meditation on Joe DiMaggio elegantly explores what DiMaggio meant to America and the price he paid for making it all look so damn easy.-Randy Roberts, Distinguished Professor of History, Purdue University
-- Randy RobertsJerome Charyn has not only written a superb book about a sports legend but, more to the point, he brilliantly informs us that even the icons among us must navigate emotionally and intellectually through the obstacles of expectations, achievements and disappointments that we all encounter. Charyn presents us with more than a sports book. This is a classic drama we can all relate to. You'll enjoy and remember this book.-Robert K. Tanenbaum, author of Betrayed
-- Robert K. Tanenbaum
Jerome Charyn is the author of The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson and The Seventh Babe, a novel about a white third baseman on the Red Sox who also played in the Negro Leagues.