Roger Kahn's 1972 bestseller The Boys of Summer instantly set the standard for nonfiction baseball writing. The memoir eloquently captured the essence of the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers, analyzing the courage of Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and teammates both on the diamond and in their post-baseball lives. A former reporter for the New York Herald-Tribune and protégé of John Lardner (1912-1960), Kahn established himself as the premier baseball author of his generation with a series of critical and popular successes. Kahn's simple, clear prose evoked family and literature, and articulated the hold baseball continues to have upon the American consciousness. Memories of Summer, which included poignant profiles of Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, was published in 1997, the same year Kahn led a failed quest to bring the Dodgers back to Brooklyn. Kahn's admirers ranged from Ronald Reagan to Robert Frost, who discussed the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox with Kahn during a 1960 interview.
Further Reading:
Kahn, Roger. The Boys of Summer. New York, Harper and Row, 1972.
——. How the Weather Was. New York, Harper and Row, 1973.
——. Memories of Summer. New York, Hyperion, 1997.
Shannon, Mike. "Roger Kahn." In Baseball: The Writers' Game. South Bend, Diamond Communications, 1992.
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