Extra Innings

"Peterson attempts to get at central questions about baseball by exploring the depiction of our national pastime in literature. In discussing books from Bernard Malamud's famous 'The Natural' to Mark Harris' more-obscure 'The Southpaw,' Peterson brings alive dramas and themes that have echoed for generations." -- Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "Offers very useful insights into the short and long fiction of baseball literature... Peterson's guide is as much a handbook and companion as a collection of writings. The bibliography and list of books cited are also very useful." -- Choice "So you love reading about baseball. You've read The Boys of Summer and A False Spring and Eight Men Out. You're also familiar with books by other gifted baseball scribes... Maybe you haven't read all those books, but you've heard about them, and you plan to fill in the gaps just as soon as you have a moment to spare. Put those plans aside and read Extra Innings instead... [Peterson] adds a dimension to the discussion of serious baseball writing that has been lacking until now." -- David Shiner, Elysian Fields ADVANCE PRAISE "Baseball's roots run deep into the nineteenth century, and deep into the nation's literary culture. Richard Peterson's essays repeatedly give readers delightful shocks of recognition about a game they will know better when they digest this book." - George F. Will "Extra Innings is an uncommonly perceptive critique of how baseball is responded to and written about. Richard Peterson knows baseball-and he also knows how it has been written down. His unique command of both ends of this process lets him show what is so valuable about the game and why writers have gone astray in pursuit of it." - Jerome Klinkowitz, author of Owning a Piece of the Minors and editor of Writing Baseball "Richard Peterson reads baseball and America in a set of pieces that are fresh, incisive, and informed. Enjoyment and learning went hand in hand as I experienced these Extra Innings, and I was sorry to see the game end." - Tim Morris, author of Making the Team: The Cultural Work of Baseball Fiction