into the context of regular people’s everyday lives, revealing, too, information about the power brokers behind the scenes. Writing of the ballpark in words that concisely allow the reader to envision life alive in the stands, McGee will have you transposed, passing an afternoon the way so many Brooklynites once did.

From the early pennant winners of 1916 and 1920, through the doldrums till the advent of the heroes of 1941, on through the hard years of World War II, to the ascension of Jackie Robinson and the Boys of Summer, the reader enjoys the Dodgers’ ups and downs as if they themselves are on a Coney Island roller-coaster. Featured, amid disappointments, are the National League champions of ’47, ’49, ’52 and ’53, to the glorious World Champions of 1955 and the team that went to a seventh game in 1956, on through the inexorable march to the team’s last out in 1957 and the wrecking ball’s descent in 1960, is McGee’s unbelievable story: how Ebbets Field’s spectacular details, notable flaws, and striking facade brought Brooklyn and its team together in ways that allowed each to define the other. The author, who puts the fans in the driver’s seat, illustrates poignant examples of how people who came to play, as well as those who watched