The Boys of SummerThe Boys of Summer
Score Classic
What it's about
As a young reporter, Roger Kahn covered the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1952 and 1953, the great team of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella that broke baseball's color barrier. Twenty years later he went to find the players, now older, injured, grieving or forgotten, and see what their lives had become. He also writes about growing up in Brooklyn with his father.
Why it's worth reading
It spent weeks at #1 on the New York Times list and is often called the best baseball book ever written. It's about much more than baseball: aging, fathers and sons, and race in America.
You'll love it if you liked
The Book of Basketball
Open
MoneyballGood to know
The 1950s sections and the later visits alternate. Several of the players' later lives are sad.
By the numbers
- Readers68 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics0 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Bestseller37 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #189 of the 290 memoirs and biographies we rank
- #393 of the 762 classics we rank
- #1338 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story
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Quick answers
Is The Boys of Summer worth reading?
Yes. It spent weeks at #1 on the New York Times list and is often called the best baseball book ever written. It ranks #1,338 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 69.6 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is The Boys of Summer about?
As a young reporter, Roger Kahn covered the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1952 and 1953, the great team of Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella that broke baseball's color barrier. Twenty years later he went to find the players, now older, injured, grieving or forgotten, and see what their lives had become. He also writes about growing up in Brooklyn with his father.
How long does it take to read The Boys of Summer?
About 12 hours (500 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What should I read after The Boys of Summer?
If you liked it, try The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons, Open by Andre Agassi or Moneyball by Michael Lewis.