Faithful to Fenway: Believing in Boston, Baseball, and America's Most Beloved Ballpark
In this, his first book, Borer, an assistant professor of sociology and urban studies at Furman University, explores the sociological and urban cultural impact the Red Sox's fabled Fenway Park has had on Boston. After explaining that an "important place can become a part of culture's symbolic system and help foster collective memories," Borer demonstrates how Fenway, by providing "a place where the narrative could be passed from one generation to the next," became the specific site where the locals' individual histories developed into the region's collective history. Along with his astute social scientific insight, Borer also includes plenty of first-person accounts of the ballpark from Red Sox greats like Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Pesky and from regular Bostonians and out-of-town baseball fans. This ability to intermingle scholarly research with America's beloved pastime has allowed Borer to write an astute academic treatise that has the appeal of a consumer sports pub.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.