Ostergaard's background in anthropology lends a real rigor to the connections drawn between baseball and American political life, making for anecdotes that reveal their implications in serious and surprising waysThe structuring of the book is associative and personal, making it of interest to essay readers and general interest readers more broadly, not just baseball fansThat said, the wealth of stories and information about the 20th century of America's pastime should be of interest to serious baseball readers, of which there is a substantial marketOstergaard's take inverts cliches. The stance...
Ostergaard's background in anthropology lends a real rigor to the connections drawn between baseball and American political life, making for anecdotes that reveal their implications in serious and surprising ways
The structuring of the book is associative and personal, making it of interest to essay readers and general interest readers more broadly, not just baseball fans
That said, the wealth of stories and information about the 20th century of America's pastime should be of interest to serious baseball readers, of which there is a substantial market
Ostergaard's take inverts cliches. The stance is distinctly progressive, one in which nostalgia for both an idea of America and a childhood passion for the sport are related, much as his disillusionment with both coincide in adulthood
Ostergaard is an active participant in baseball scholarship and research groups, and has presented his academic work on the subject at conferences at Cooperstown and elsewhere.
The book began as a novel and was reworked as an essay, and remains literary
There's a real appetite for counterintuitive narratives about baseball (see ESPN.com's recent story on the insertion of God Bless America in the seventh inning stretch), and the book speaks to that impulse 
