Summer of '49
The Yankees and the Red Sox in Postwar America
David Halberstam
This book is available for download with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device, and with iTunes on your computer. Books can be read with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device.
Description
Halberstam’s classic #1 bestseller about the magical summer when baseball’s fiercest rivalry captured the nation’s imagination, and changed the sport forever
The summer of 1949: It was baseball’s Golden Age and the year Joe DiMaggio’s New York Yankees were locked in a soon-to-be classic battle with Ted Williams’s Boston Red Sox for the American League pennant. As postwar America looked for a unifying moment, the greatest players in baseball history brought their rivalry to the field, captivating the American public through the heart-pounding final moments of the season. This expansive story captures an era, incorporating profiles of the players and their families, fans, broadcasters, baseball executives, and sportswriters. Riveting in its blend of powerful detail and exhilarating narrative, The Summer of ’49 is Pulitzer Prize winner David Halberstam’s engrossing look at not only a sports rivalry, but a time when America’s very identity was wrapped up in its beloved national game. This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.
“Dazzling . . . heart-stopping . . . altogether engrossing . . . A celebration of a vanished heroic age.” —The New York Times Book Review “A gorgeous story with personalities and anecdotes jam-packing every page.” —Newsweek
David Halberstam (1934–2007) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author. He is best known for both his courageous coverage of the Vietnam War for the New York Times, as well as for his twenty-one nonfiction books—which cover a wide array of topics, from the plight of Detroit and the auto industry to the captivating origins of baseball’s fiercest rivalry. Halberstam wrote for numerous publications throughout his career and, according to journalist George Packer, single-handedly set the standard of “the reporter as fearless truth teller.” Halberstam died in 2007.
Customer Reviews
Great story, perfect writing
On one level, this book is about a pennant race in 1949, when baseball was the national pasttime and fans used their imaginations to “see” games from the newspaper accounts or radio broadcasts.
On another level, it’s the story of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio during that season — Williams in full bloom, and DiMaggio near the end of his career.
Halberstam tells the story with his wonderful style, a combination of reportorial economy and a fan’s compassion. I read somewhere that Halberstam said he wrote some popular books that paid the bills, and some books that allowed him to explore topics he loved. For me, this book is the best of both.
Excellent book
on the Boys of Summer and their life beyond the ballpark.
Halberstam was great and this is one of his best books.
A wonderful book
I really enjoyed reading this book, it is filled with great stories about the season and the players. I recommend this to all baseball fans

- $1.99
- Category: Baseball
- Published: Dec 18, 2012
- Publisher: Open Road Media
- Seller: OpenRoad Integrated Media, LLC
- Print Length: 384 Pages
- Language: English
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