JOE DIMAGGIO: THE HERO'S LIFE BY RICHARD BEN CRAMER

Richard Cramer's book about the legend Joe DiMaggio opens like a work of fiction. The reader is introduced to Joe's childhood: neighborhood boys playing baseball or working odd jobs, the fathers off working, and the mothers inside cooking and tending to small children. When Cramer describes how each boy sold papers one can almost visualize a scene from an old black and white movie with the boy, hat cocked to one side, shouting "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" We learn the neighborhood nicknames of Joe's friends, from Niggy to Friggles. We see the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, as it was 80 years ago, right down to the location of the bathroom where Joe played cards.

We also learn that, even then, Joe wasn't like anyone else. He was quiet and reserved. Unique. We learn that he would play baseball, but usually only if money was involved. When he played cards, it was for money, too. The first chapter ends with the young Joe not talking to his friend Frank for a year because Frank cost Joe a half a nickel fare. This is not a very appealing picture, but it's so easy to get caught up in Cramer's book. It seems as if you're really experiencing what Joe DiMaggio experienced and getting to see how Joe actually felt. Cramer tells a good story and "Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life" is certainly worth reading, but perhaps not as the definitive work of the man that so many idolized. The danger lies in believing that Cramer (or anyone else) could actually have that much knowledge about what motivates another person without being that person or being very close to him or her. Perhaps somewhere between the nasty, money-driven man that Cramer portrays and the American Hero that so many idealized exists the truth about Joe DiMaggio. (LINK)

- Leslie Leite