Stealing Home

By Eric Nusbaum

Book Overview

A story about baseball, family, the American Dream, and the fight to turn Los Angeles into a big league city. Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy.

Instead of getting their homes back, the remaining residents saw the city sell their land to Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Now LA would be getting a different sort of utopian fantasy--a glittering, ultramodern stadium.

But before Dodger Stadium could be built, the city would have to face down the neighborhood's families--including one, the Ar chigas, who refused to yield their home. The ensuing confrontation captivated the nation--and the divisive outcome still reverberates through Los Angeles today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1541742222
• ISBN13: 9781541742222
• Release Date: March 2021
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Stealing Home is a perfect LA story

I found Stealing home to be a delightful read. Any fan of baseball history should indulge as it dives into the stories of Los Angeles and popular culture at the time, specifically the relationship and importance of baseball within our culture. Specifics sites of early Los Angeles, such as historic streets, theaters are referenced, as are the families of Angelenos whose lives were affected by the evacuation of Chavez Ravine. Incredible read if you are a fan of baseball, the Dodgers, or the city of Los Angeles, Nusbaum paints a great picture of the truths of the time.