Baseball the Writer's Game (P)
An example of how incestuous the literary world can get, this collection of 15 interviews with baseball writers covers their backgrounds, the inspiration for their books and their special interests within the game. Unfortunately, many of those chosen for interviews are noteworthy more for their vast output than for the merits of their prose. Two of the subjects have written books that are by consensus among the best of the last few decades--Roger Kahn ( The Boys of Summer ) and Lawrence Ritter ( The Glory of Their Times )--but Roger Angell, arguably the best baseball writer currently at work, is not included, nor is Jim Murray, whom many consider the best writer on any sport during the past 30 years. Shannon, the editor of Spitball magazine and author of Johnny Bench , seems like an establishment type, which probably explains why he excluded Jim Bouton, whose racy, backbiting memoir Ball Four is one of the most widely discussed baseball books ever. Hardly an earth-shaking volume.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.