About the Author

Richard Ben Cramer (1950-2013) won the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East reporting in 1979. His journalism has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. He is the author of How Israel Lost: The Four Questions and the classic of modern American politics What It Takes: The Way to the White House.

Reviews

Larry King USA Today An extraordinary biography...This work will go down as one of the most definitive stories of a life and its times, sports or otherwise....You will not be disappointed.

Daniel Okrent Time Absolutely persuasive...Cramer is an all-star reporter....DiMaggio is rendered so vividly you almost want to look away.

Ken Garcia San Francisco Chronicle An often brilliant and deeply disturbing look into the rise of one of the country's modern-day giants.

Robert Lipsyte The New York Times The most absorbing and readable sports biography in recent memory.

Ken Garcia San Francisco Chronicle An often brilliant and deeply disturbing look into the rise of one of the country's modern-day giants.

Larry King USA Today An extraordinary biography...This work will go down as one of the most definitive stories of a life and its times, sports or otherwise....You will not be disappointed.
Daniel Okrent Time Absolutely persuasive...Cramer is an all-star reporter....DiMaggio is rendered so vividly you almost want to look away.
Ken Garcia San Francisco Chronicle An often brilliant and deeply disturbing look into the rise of one of the country's modern-day giants.
Robert Lipsyte The New York Times The most absorbing and readable sports biography in recent memory.
Ken Garcia San Francisco Chronicle An often brilliant and deeply disturbing look into the rise of one of the country's modern-day giants.

Cramer does a very creditable job of exploring DiMaggio's life in and out of major league baseball; he's also an excellent reader. We follow "Joltin" Joe from his teens in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood to his death from lung cancer in 1999. This is a story of how Joe the businessman parlayed his athletic talent, baseball success, and name into a personal fortune over nearly 40 years in the public eye. That he still managed to become a baseball hero seems almost coincidental to his single-minded pursuit of cashing in on his skills. Cramer gives especially fine descriptions of DiMaggio's relationships with his first wife, Dorothy, with Marilyn Monroe, and with his son, Joe Jr., each a disaster of major and lasting importance. Adult language and situations occur; highly recommended, but not for fans younger than the later teens. Cliff Glaviano, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.