The Life That Ruth Built: A Biography

by Marshall Smelser

Book Overview

"Smelser demonstrates that a good historian can write good sports history and that good sports history makes good history. Of course Smelser had an ideal subject: Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, the Bambino. But the author made the most of his opportunity."--Eugene Murdock, American Historical Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080329218X
• ISBN13: 9780803292185
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Babe on Balance

This biography, although scholarly, is entertaining throughout and easily read. Smelser was a life long baseball fan and his love of the game animates every page. As an undergraduate at Notre Dame, I studied under the author. Now deceased, he was a professor of history. Smelser demanded from his students the thorough research he displays in this book. But he was also a wonderful storyteller. Both qualities are apparent in this work. Like the best biographers, the author has only mild affection for his subject. The Babe's qualities and failings get equal attention. But today, when the word "superstar" is wildly overrused, you see the extraordinary level of fame this man achieved. If you really want to understand the Babe's life, read this book.

Babe Ruth - what more can you say!

Some legends are larger than life. Some legends are made up. Then there's Babe Ruth, than man by which all other baseball players are measured, even today. George Herman Ruth comes to life in this riveting, yet easy to read biography by Marshall Smelser.You follow the bambino from his early days at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys to his early days with the Boston Red Sox. You read about his turmoil with the fans, his trade to the New York Yankees, that later became the curse of the Bambino.Smelser's accounts of Ruth's life from his first wife to the run ins with Yankees manager Miller Huggins to the called shot in the 1934 World Series and so many others, will have laughing on minute and on the brink of tears the very next.I have always been a great Babe Ruth fan; so reviewing this book was a no brainer. Smelser writing style made it easy for me to read along and finally get a true picture of the man so many either loved or hated. I would highly recommend this book to any serious baseball fan!

A look into the life no one knew.

It is a book about a hero that evrybody thought was perfect. In this book you get to see the life behind the face. There are so many legend and this book so the truth and tells you the miths.

incredibly good

every sentence filled with facts. research done is tremendous. best sports book i ever read.