© Columbia University Press
Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era
Paper, 352 pages, 15 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-11343-4
$25.00
/ £14.50
April, 2002
Cloth, 352 pages, 15 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-11342-7
$75.50
/ £44.50
"[I]t is Alexander's descriptions of day-to-day living for the average ballplayer that are most fascinating—where they lived, how they earned extra money, their traveling and lodging conditions." — USA Today Baseball Weekly
"A worthwhile slice of baseball history for devoted fans." — Booklist
"A good overview." — Library Journal
"Some fine scholarship." — Natural History
"The beautiful dustjacket alone is almost worth the purchase price." — ESPN Magazine
"Flat-out entertaining, sometimes-touching baseball anecdotes." — Mark Luce, Chicago Tribune
"Alexander writes for baseball junkies, peppering his prose with baseball slang and laboring through game-by-game series recaps." — San Francisco Chronicle
"Alexander follows his excellent biographies. . . with this engrossing look at baseball in the Depression Era. His running narrative of seasons and games is a welcome adjunct to his explorations of more serious themes." — Dallas Morning News
"Baseball history does not get much better than this study of the Depression years. . . Everything is here: the heroes, the statistics, the personalities. . . a model of scholarship." — Choice
"A worthy addition to the sports history canon, providing a valuable secondary source for anyone with an interest in the game's evolution." — West Singletary, History
"Written in a lively, traditional narrative style rich in colorful illustrative anecdotes. . . enjoyable and informative." — Journal of American History
"Like a quickly paced, mid-season game on a sunny summer afternoon, Charles C. Alexander's book provides another comfortable examination of the national pastime. . . . he demonstrates a thorough command of the narrative nature of the game itself and a solid ability to find meaning in the play of men." — American Historical Review
"[It chronicles] important periods in the history of baseball, and [It] will thoroughly engage that sport's aficionados." — Jack E. Davis, American Studies
"Reading Breaking the Slump is like being given a box seat on Opening Day. In vivid detail, Charles Alexander brings to life the Gas House gang and the many other luminaries who brightened the dark days of the Great Depression in baseball's greatest decade." — William E. Leuchtenburg, William Rand Kenan Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill