Brooklyn's Dodgers: The Bums, the Borough, and the Best of Baseball, 1947-1957

This slim, illustrated volume makes a fascinating attempt at capturing in theoretical, sociological terms the love affair between the Dodgers--the team of Branch Rickey and Duke Snider, of Pee Wee Reese and, above all, Jackie Robinson--and the homely, family-oriented, working-class borough of Brooklyn in the 1950s. Robinson, a complex and courageous man, is captured here, warts and all; few remember that the gifted ballplayer denounced the great actor Paul Robeson to the House Un-American Activities Committee. But it's the glory of those summer days that lingers in the memories, and in the pages of this book.