The Jackie Robinson Reader: Perspectives on an American Hero

Jackie Robinson biographer Jules Tygiel has compiled a powerful batting order of prominent writers and those who knew Robinson first-hand--including Roger Kahn, Red Barber, black sportswriter Wendell Smith, Robinson's Olympic-medalist brother Mack, even Malcolm X and Jackie Robinson himself. Their perspectives help pierce the shadow cast by the legend and shed real light on the man. Barber's poignant recollection of his personal battle with racism still rings loudly a half century later, and Harold Parrott's "The Betrayal of Robinson" is an unforgettably harrowing account of the animosity directed toward Robinson that first season.