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i'm not particularly interested in baseball, but i am particularly interested in American history from the human perspective. i could have read a much more dry account of the turmoils that dominated American race relations throughout the middle of the 20th century, but instead i've read this fascinating account of those terrible, backward days from the perspective of a true pioneer, Mr. Jackie Robinson.
of course he is looked back on now as a symbol, a mythological figure. i always knew peripherally of Jackie as the same thing most people do: the first black man to play major league baseball, a step forward & up in the painful struggle of the times. but this book presents him as a human being, a fallible man who lived most of his life not on the baseball field, but in a relentless pursuit of his ideals and desire for a better life for himself and everyone around him.
the reviewer before me questions the biographer's lack of judgement of Robinson. i am curious as to why he feels Rampersad should insert his own analysis; the biography presents analyses of Robinson by many of Robinson's contemporaries, and then presents the recorded facts available to clarify incidents & statements. yes, this is an intensely personal biography, perhaps too personal in places. it is very much centered on Jackie's private correspondences. it is absolutely told from Robinson's persepctive, as best can be reconstructed from his widow Rachel & the papers he left behind, but it feels very honest, not at all like an airbrushed bit of hero-polishing. it is in places very blunt about Jackie's shortcomings as observed by his peers & contemporaries.
before i stretch this out any longer, i'll just say that this is the most engrossing biography i can ever recall having read. it's an account of a fascinating life in an amazingly recent time, in an America that seems so long ago but is still discouragingly recent. readers will learn not just about Jackie Robinson, but about two American eras as well.
Rating:  -
Professor's Rampersad's biography of Jackie Robinson is a book that's needed now. It's incredibly informative about the man behind the legend. (I think Roger Angell's blurb sums it up: "[the] book arrives just in time to save the man from his own legend.") However, Rampersad doesn't focus much on Robinson's baseball life, and he seems to be holding back judgment on Robinson despite the opportunities to do so.
Before digging in the dirt, I want to say that this book is crisply written and chock full o' facts about Robinson's life. Rampersad obviously had the full support of Robinson's widow, Rachel, and her views are constantly felt throughout the book. It's almost told from her point of view, in fact, and thus feels like a intimate, loving homage to the man.
But there are some issues and character flaws in Robinson that Rampersad shows or hints at, but never fully explores. For example, we never truly felt the force of the hatred leveled against Robinson during his efforts to integrate baseball. There are a few quick references to name-calling, a couple of pitches thrown his way, but what made Robinson so bitter, what filled him with the hatred that so obviously ate at him later in his career? It's implied, rather than shown, as if it were too terrible even to discuss. On the whole, the chapters on Robinson's baseball career are woefully thin. It's clear that Rampersad is not much of a baseball fan - including a few factual errors about the sport's rules and game play - and it's a shame, because baseball is as much about its stories as it is about its action.
And then there's Robinson's role as Civil Rights' leader, which Rampersad describes, but withholds all judgment on. Why exactly did Robinson favor the Republican Party, even long after it was obvious that the GOP proved to be the party of segregation and white privilege? Also Rampersad only hints at the acrimony and in-fighting between Robinson and such organizations as the NAACP and SLCC.
Presented with the facts supplied by Rampersad, it seemed that Robinson was a vain, proud, and sensitive man, who was extremely susceptible to flattery, especially from powerful whites. It also seems that his success in baseball convinced him that he would be successful in other areas, especially politics. But it seemed that he was over his head in that area, always a tool of the professionals, Nixon and Rockerfeller.
Notice I say "seem" a lot! That's because Rampersad never states any of this outright, he only hints at it - enough to acknowledge these characteristics, but fails to explore them. Rampersad never digs into Robinson's psychology, never explains or contemplates motivation, cause, or effect of any of Robinson's endeavors. It's so easy on Robinson that I suspect Rampersad wrote this book for Robinson's widow - or maybe her approval of the book was necessary as part of some deal for use of her letters. Or perhaps Rampersad was too aware of Robinson's near-saint-like stature in our nation's culture to find any fault with the man. In any case, he definitely pulls all punches, and the book, though informative, feels incomplete.
Yes, Robinson was a hero. Yes, he was courageous. But he was also a man, full of frailties and inconsistencies, just like the rest of us. To withhold judgement does him as much diservice as it does us...
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The book Jackie Robinson is what I thought to be the most excellent book to do with baseball I ever read. I must of read the book 5 times because it was so good. Believe me when I say this I never read a book more than once. I like it because it teaches kids my age about how they shouldn't judge people by how they look. For example when certain baseball teams said, "Jackie couldn't play on their team because of his race". When he was better than half the their team.
Another good reason is that it is a non-fiction book so you know ever thing is real. For instance everbody thinks he had an easy life after he joined the MLB but in the book it shows what really went on, on and off the field. LIke when fans would scream at him and players would try to peg him or take his needs out when he was running. I would defiantly buy this book because it is somewhat about how baseball use to be and about one of the best baseball player that ever lived and to play the game. It's a great read.auguasta
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Jackie Robinson is more than a Athlete He is a Ground-Breaking Man in America He paved the way for Future Black Athletes.this Book Sheds light on him&what He dealt with.it can never be stated enough He forever changed the way the Game would be Viewed&watched.He was a Gifted Athlete&Person.this Book Reflects on a Human being that changed a way of Life in this Country that happen in the past 50 years that wasn't that long ago but the way people try to downplay many things that deal with Race you'd Swear it was a 100.Jackie Robinson shall never be forgotten for no Him who knows what the Sports World&Civil Rights be like??He Deserves a National Holiday to me.
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I like this book because it gives you a depth look on Jackie Robinson not Jackie the Baseball player. This is the best autobiography I have read.
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