Shoeless Joe ( novel ) - wikipedia Shoeless Joe ( novel ) This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ( Learn how and when to remove these template messages ) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( June 2010 ) This article 's lead section does not adequately summarize key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. Please discuss this issue on the article 's talk page. ( June 2010 ) Shoeless Joe First edition Author W.P. Kinsella Country Canada Language English Genre Sport Fantasy Publisher Houghton Mifflin Publication date 1982 Media type Print ( hardcover, paperback, e-book ) Pages 265 ( paperback edition ) ISBN 0 - 395 - 32047 - X OCLC 7947139 Dewey Decimal 813 /. 54 19 LC Class PR9199. 3. K443 S49 1982 Shoeless Joe is a magic realist novel by Canadian author W.P. Kinsella. It became much better known due to its film adaptation, Field of Dreams. The book was written as Kinsella attended a writers workshop in Iowa, and decided to incorporate the stories he told about the Black Sox Scandal, imagining if Shoeless Joe Jackson came back to the same city Kinsella was living in, Iowa City. Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters 2.1 Main 2.2 Supporting 2.3 Historical / real life 3 Awards and nominations 4 Film adaptation 5 J.D. Salinger 6 Release details 7 References Plot summary Ray Kinsella lives and farms in Iowa where he grows corn with his wife Annie and their five - year - old daughter Karin. Kinsella is obsessed with the beauty and history of American baseball, specifically the plight of his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 World Series. When he hears a voice telling him to build a baseball field in the midst of his corn crop in order to give his hero a chance at redemption, he blindly follows instructions. The field becomes a conduit to the spirits of baseball legends. Soon, Kinsella is off on a cross-country trip to ease the pain of another hero, the reclusive writer J.D. Salinger, as part of a journey the Philadelphia Inquirer called `` not so much about baseball as it 's about dreams, magic, life, and what is quintessentially American. '' Characters Main Ray Kinsella, protagonist and devoted baseball fan Annie Kinsella, wife of Ray Karin Kinsella, 5 - year - old daughter of Ray and Annie Supporting Richard Kinsella, Identical twin brother of Ray `` Gypsy '', Richard 's girlfriend Mark, Annie 's brother and Ray 's brother - in - law Abner Bluestein, Mark 's business partner and accomplice Eddie Scissons, originally owned Ray 's farm and was locally known as the oldest living Chicago Cub Historical / real life Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball player J.D. Salinger, reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye and `` A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All, '' which are referred to in the book Moonlight Graham, baseball player and later a doctor in the small town of Chisholm, Minnesota Awards and nominations Shoeless Joe was the winner of the 1982 Books in Canada First Novel Award and a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. In 2011, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame awarded Kinsella the Jack Graney Award for a significant contribution to the game of baseball in Canada through a life 's work or a singular outstanding achievement. Film adaptation Shoeless Joe was later adapted into the 1989 film Field of Dreams by Phil Alden Robinson. The original working title of the film was Shoeless Joe, like the book. The original title of the book was Dream Field, but the publisher renamed it Shoeless Joe. J.D. Salinger W.P. Kinsella, who had never met Salinger, created a wholly imagined character ( aside from his being a recluse ) based on the author of The Catcher in the Rye, a book that had great meaning to him when he was a young man. To get a feel for Salinger, he re-read his body of work. `` I made sure to make him a nice character so that he could n't sue me. '' In addition to having a character named `` Ray Kinsella '' in the short story `` A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All, '' Salinger had also used the surname in The Catcher in the Rye ( Holden Caulfield 's friend Richard Kinsella ). Known for his litigiousness, Salinger contacted Kinsella 's publisher via his attorneys to express outrage over having been portrayed in Shoeless Joe and intimated he would sue should the character `` J.D. Salinger '' appear in any other medium, should Shoeless Joe be adapted. In the novel Shoeless Joe, Ray Kinsella seeks out J.D. Salinger, although in the film this character was renamed Terence Mann ( and was changed to a black man by the casting of James Earl Jones ) as the movie producers were worried over being sued by Salinger. The producers believed that it was not significant to jettison Salinger, as they figured only 15 % of the potential audience would know who the author was. Kinsella told Macleans Magazine in a 2010 interview on the death of Salinger that many of the book 's readers believe that Salinger is a wholly fictional character. Kinsella denied that Salinger, as a writer, had any real influence on his own writing. Release details 1982, USA, Houghton Mifflin ISBN 0 - 395 - 32047 - X, Pub. date April 12, 1982, ( Paperback ) 1999, USA, Mariner Books ISBN 0 - 395 - 95773 - 7, Pub. date April 28, 1999, Paperback References Jump up ^ `` The ' Field of Dreams ' Scrapbook '', Field of Dreams DVD Jump up ^ `` W.P. Kinsella honoured for baseball novel Shoeless Joe ''. CBC.ca. December 21, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2013. Jump up ^ Geddes, John. `` W.P. on J.D. : Kinsella talks about writing Salinger into ' Shoeless Joe ' ''. Macleans. Retrieved 2 September 2011. W.P. Kinsella Novels Shoeless Joe ( 1982 ) The Iowa Baseball Confederacy ( 1986 ) Box Socials ( 1991 ) Magic Time ( 1998 ) Short Story Collections Dance Me Outside ( 1977 ) Scars ( 1978 ) Shoeless Joe Jackson Goes To Iowa ( 1980 ) Born Indian ( 1981 ) Maccasin Telegraph ( 1983 ) The Thrill of the Grass ( 1984 ) The Last Pennant Before Armageddon ( 1984 ) Five Stories ( 1985 ) The Alligator Report ( 1985 ) The Fencepost Chronicles ( 1986 ) Red Wolf, Red Wolf ( 1987 ) The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt ( 1988 ) The Miss Hobbema Pageant ( 1989 ) The Dixon Cornbelt League and Other Baseball Stories ( 1993 ) Brother Frank 's Gospel Hour ( 1994 ) If Wishes Were Horses ( 1996 ) The Secret of the Northern Lights ( 1998 ) Baseball Fantastic ( 2000 ) Japanese Baseball and Other Stories ( 2000 ) Poetry Rainbow Warehouse ( 1989 ) Chicago White Sox Based in Chicago, Illinois Franchise History Seasons Owners and executives Managers Players Opening Day starting pitchers first - round draft picks Broadcasters Team records Award winners No - hitters Ballparks South Side Park Comiskey Park Guaranteed Rate Field Spring training : * Recreation Park Palm Springs Stadium Plant Field Al Lopez Field Payne Park Ed Smith Stadium Tucson Electric Park Camelback Ranch Culture and lore 1994 bat burglary 2008 Blackout Game Andy the Clown Armour Square / Bridgeport Black Sox Scandal Curse of the Black Sox Eight Men Out Field of Dreams Shoeless Joe ( novel ) Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers Disco Demolition Night `` Do n't Stop Believin ' '' Gene Honda The Hitless Wonders `` Let 's Go, Go - Go White Sox '' `` Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye '' Nancy Faust Nicknames Only The Lonely Perfect games Charlie Robertson Mark Buehrle Philip Humber Ribbie and Roobarb The Sodfather Southpaw South Side Hitmen Sox -- 35th The Stratton Story `` Sweet Home Chicago '' `` Take Me Out to the Ball Game '' Turn Back the Clock Winning Ugly White Flag Trade Rivalries Chicago Cubs Key personnel Chairman : Jerry Reinsdorf Vice Chairman : Eddie Einhorn Executive Vice President : Ken Williams General Manager : Rick Hahn Special Assistant to the GM : Jim Thome Manager : Rick Renteria World Series championships ( 3 ) 1906 1917 2005 American League championships ( 6 ) 1901 1906 1917 1919 1959 2005 Division championships ( 5 ) West : 1983 1993 Central : 2000 2005 2008 Minor league affiliates Charlotte Knights ( AAA ) Birmingham Barons ( AA ) Winston - Salem Dash ( A Adv. ) Kannapolis Intimidators ( A ) Great Falls Voyagers ( Rookie Adv. ) AZL White Sox ( Rookie ) DSL White Sox ( Rookie ) Media NBC Sports Chicago WGN Sports ( WGN9 / CW50 ) 89 WLS ESPN Deportes 1220 AM White Sox Radio Network Seasons ( 118 ) 1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s 1980 1981 1982 1984 1985 1986 1990s 1993 2000s 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010s 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Black Sox Scandal Banned players Eddie Cicotte Happy Felsch Chick Gandil Shoeless Joe Jackson Fred McMullin Swede Risberg Buck Weaver Lefty Williams Other figures Abe Attell Sleepy Bill Burns Charles Comiskey Judge Hugo Friend Hugh Fullerton Joe Gedeon Kid Gleason Ban Johnson Kenesaw Mountain Landis Billy Maharg Arnold Rothstein Sport Sullivan Films Eight Men Out Field of Dreams Miscellaneous 1919 Chicago White Sox season 1919 Cincinnati Reds season 1919 World Series Curse of the Black Sox Shoeless Joe ( novel ) Book : Black Sox Scandal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shoeless_Joe_(novel)&oldid=806669119 '' Categories : 1982 Canadian novels Baseball novels Novels by W.P. Kinsella Canadian magic realism novels Ghost stories Novels set in Iowa Canadian novels adapted into films Houghton Mifflin books Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from June 2010 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia introduction cleanup from June 2010 All pages needing cleanup Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from June 2010 All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify Pages to import images to Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 23 October 2017, at 13 : 16. About Wikipedia

Question: what book is field of dreams based on
Answer: Shoeless Joe