Review: 3 Lives, 1 Story

Posted May 17, 2020

External Article: Lincoln Journal Star

War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War, a book by Johnny Smith, associate professor in the School of History and Sociology, and Randy Roberts of Purdue University was reviewed on May 17, 2020 in the Lincoln Journal Star.

Smith and Roberts' book has become particularly relevant as the professional sports world confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, and reviewer J. Kemper Campbell looks to the volume both as a record of a time past and a display of how a country can react in the face of multiple crises.

Excerpt:

Individuals who feel our country will be unable to conquer both the coronavirus and the economic crisis it has engendered should take heart from the tumultuous year which occurred over a century ago. The book demonstrates that our fellow citizens are capable of both walking and chewing gum at the same time and could probably learn to simultaneously crochet a doily if necessary.

By emphasizing the personalities of the book’s three protagonists, the authors have succeeded in adding a human element to their compelling narrative. Their book should make interested readers’ time pass pleasantly as our own pandemic grinds to its inevitable conclusion.

Read the full article here.