By David Rubin
{Editor's Note: if you have NOT seen Steve Martin in "The Jerk" then you are ordered to either rent it or download it immediately and do NOT come back until you have watched it and can get the joke in the title...or you can simply take our word for it that it was hilarious and commence with reading Part One of our annual baseball book reviews - it's your choice...but DON'T say we didn't warn you!!}
Back in the days when blogging about the Mets - or ANYTHING, for that matter - wasn't as "commonplace" I began a little blog called "Mets Trades." From there, I combined with the long-lost John Young, and Shea Nation blossomed into one of the most-read baseball sites in the "blogosphere"...once Shea was no more, and my father had passed away, things simply weren't the same for me anymore, and for a time, most of my baseball "musings" came via interaction with other fans, family and friends, until Ed Ryan, over at Mets Fever offered me a "safe-haven" from which to write from again. At the time that Ed agreed to bring me on, some other things changed in my life, and it grew harder to cover the team that I've loved these past 40+ years with any regularity.
Finally, as things got better, and those I love most got healthier, it became easier to get back to posting regularly again, and the lesson learned is that you often never realize how much you miss something until it's gone - NOT to sound too cliched, but it really is true. Many thanks to the great Mack Ade for allowing me a forum with which I can vent and speculate about my favorite past-time, baseball, and, in particular, the New York Mets.
Interestingly enough, the one thing that I found that I missed most during the year or so when I wasn't posting regularly was coming up with my annual "best of baseball books" list. It's quite an accomplishment that James Patterson & company can release a book just about every 2 weeks or so (at least it seems that way), but it's an even bigger accomplishment, in my opinion, that an author, armed only with a notepad, pen and some moxie (and a laptop or two), can re-create games, situations, characters and lives from a combo of difficult research and a keen mind, resulting in a slice of time from the game that we love so much, in black and white, to be shared for the remainder of time, often decades after their subject(s) have long passed on. Memories fade...history is exaggerated or forgotten altogether...until, and unless some aspiring author somewhere gets a "bug in his craw" and simply MUST tell a story that is dying to be released. That's how we all learned about the infamous "Black Sox," and it's also how we've learned to understand new ways to look at performance via metrics never once considered. These authors usually don't receive the accolades they so richly deserve, and, being that baseball history is by far my favorite subject (as anyone who has ever visited my home office is well aware), I've always felt it a privilege to be able to offer my two cents, for what it's worth, in support of these authors and the lives/history that they have brought to life. That's why you won't see any negative reviews here - if a book has made it to this list, it's because of its many merits; there are a number of baseball books I haven't really enjoyed, but for the purpose of this column, we'll leave those for another day.
The calendar year 2010 has seen more top quality baseball books released then any year in recent memory; it isn't often that I'm unable to read all of the books that truly interested me within a single calendar year, let alone before the next gem was released. I guess there's always a first for everything, and this year was "it" for me. In order to do justice to the many great reads that have been released this year, I've had to break this column up into four parts.
Today, in part one, we'll briefly discuss a number of books that I've recently finished, all of which were excellent, each of which came close to cracking the "top 5" of the year. Part 2 will continue this theme, as we'll review the remaining contenders who slightly missed that designation. Part 3 will begin the countdown, starting with #5 and ending with the #3 ranked book; finally, in Part 4, we'll review the 2 books that I felt were simply the very best of a most excellent pool of contenders. What does this all mean? Quite frankly, absolutely NOTHING!! If I can inspire some of our readers to grab any one of these amazing books, then my job here is done. And, if 2011 is half as good as 2010 was from a baseball-writing perspective, I'd better make an appointment to see my eye doctor and FAST!!
{Editor's Note: if you have NOT seen Steve Martin in "The Jerk" then you are ordered to either rent it or download it immediately and do NOT come back until you have watched it and can get the joke in the title...or you can simply take our word for it that it was hilarious and commence with reading Part One of our annual baseball book reviews - it's your choice...but DON'T say we didn't warn you!!}
Back in the days when blogging about the Mets - or ANYTHING, for that matter - wasn't as "commonplace" I began a little blog called "Mets Trades." From there, I combined with the long-lost John Young, and Shea Nation blossomed into one of the most-read baseball sites in the "blogosphere"...once Shea was no more, and my father had passed away, things simply weren't the same for me anymore, and for a time, most of my baseball "musings" came via interaction with other fans, family and friends, until Ed Ryan, over at Mets Fever offered me a "safe-haven" from which to write from again. At the time that Ed agreed to bring me on, some other things changed in my life, and it grew harder to cover the team that I've loved these past 40+ years with any regularity.
Finally, as things got better, and those I love most got healthier, it became easier to get back to posting regularly again, and the lesson learned is that you often never realize how much you miss something until it's gone - NOT to sound too cliched, but it really is true. Many thanks to the great Mack Ade for allowing me a forum with which I can vent and speculate about my favorite past-time, baseball, and, in particular, the New York Mets.
Interestingly enough, the one thing that I found that I missed most during the year or so when I wasn't posting regularly was coming up with my annual "best of baseball books" list. It's quite an accomplishment that James Patterson & company can release a book just about every 2 weeks or so (at least it seems that way), but it's an even bigger accomplishment, in my opinion, that an author, armed only with a notepad, pen and some moxie (and a laptop or two), can re-create games, situations, characters and lives from a combo of difficult research and a keen mind, resulting in a slice of time from the game that we love so much, in black and white, to be shared for the remainder of time, often decades after their subject(s) have long passed on. Memories fade...history is exaggerated or forgotten altogether...until, and unless some aspiring author somewhere gets a "bug in his craw" and simply MUST tell a story that is dying to be released. That's how we all learned about the infamous "Black Sox," and it's also how we've learned to understand new ways to look at performance via metrics never once considered. These authors usually don't receive the accolades they so richly deserve, and, being that baseball history is by far my favorite subject (as anyone who has ever visited my home office is well aware), I've always felt it a privilege to be able to offer my two cents, for what it's worth, in support of these authors and the lives/history that they have brought to life. That's why you won't see any negative reviews here - if a book has made it to this list, it's because of its many merits; there are a number of baseball books I haven't really enjoyed, but for the purpose of this column, we'll leave those for another day.
The calendar year 2010 has seen more top quality baseball books released then any year in recent memory; it isn't often that I'm unable to read all of the books that truly interested me within a single calendar year, let alone before the next gem was released. I guess there's always a first for everything, and this year was "it" for me. In order to do justice to the many great reads that have been released this year, I've had to break this column up into four parts.
Today, in part one, we'll briefly discuss a number of books that I've recently finished, all of which were excellent, each of which came close to cracking the "top 5" of the year. Part 2 will continue this theme, as we'll review the remaining contenders who slightly missed that designation. Part 3 will begin the countdown, starting with #5 and ending with the #3 ranked book; finally, in Part 4, we'll review the 2 books that I felt were simply the very best of a most excellent pool of contenders. What does this all mean? Quite frankly, absolutely NOTHING!! If I can inspire some of our readers to grab any one of these amazing books, then my job here is done. And, if 2011 is half as good as 2010 was from a baseball-writing perspective, I'd better make an appointment to see my eye doctor and FAST!!
The Ring of Greatness (with all apologies to the Dallas Cowboys)
As I said, there were so many great baseball books released this year, it almost seemed like a new one of great note was released each and every week. Hank Aaron? Yep! Willie Mays? Say hey!! Charles Radbourn? Who? ExACTly!! With coverage ranging from the regular (LA Book Review) to the surprising (Entertainment Weekly), reviews to numerous baseball books seemed to be popping up everywhere, as fast as the books themselves were being released (yeah, I know that's how it works, but it usually doesn't SEEM to happen that way!)
Each book on this list is deserving of great praise, is singularly interesting and well-written, and tells a story that is integral to truly understanding the "American Past-Time." Each contributes greatly to the ever-expanding mythology that has become the game of baseball. Here then, in no order what-so-ever, are the worthy contenders:
The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories - Tom Zappala
Some books are said to have great content (photos, stories) that simply leaps off the page - "The T206 Collection simply makes this happen on each and every page. Just from an aesthetic standpoint, I can't recall a more beautiful book in almost any genre. This book immediately reminded me of an old Topps baseball card television commercial, where the players seemd to jump right out of their cards - and author Zappala has replicated this effect, except his is one of quality of both content and design.
I certainly don't want yo u to think that this book is simply a "design marvel" without substance - it's quite the opposite. Style is astounding and compelling, but the substance, the "meat" if you will, is truly what allows the book to leap off the page- the stories of the players themselves! As someone who has recently struggled to trace back a portion of my family that I knew little to nothing about, I am well aware of the challenges involved in trying to uncover information about those who are long departed. Zappala tasked himself with bringing to life not a small family, but each and every player who appeared in the legendary T206 baseball card set, which was released over a three-year period (1909 - 1911), issued in cigarette and loose tobacco packages, numbered hundreds of players, and featured the most famous trading card of all-time, the legendary T206 HONUS WAGNER!
As I said, there were so many great baseball books released this year, it almost seemed like a new one of great note was released each and every week. Hank Aaron? Yep! Willie Mays? Say hey!! Charles Radbourn? Who? ExACTly!! With coverage ranging from the regular (LA Book Review) to the surprising (Entertainment Weekly), reviews to numerous baseball books seemed to be popping up everywhere, as fast as the books themselves were being released (yeah, I know that's how it works, but it usually doesn't SEEM to happen that way!)
Each book on this list is deserving of great praise, is singularly interesting and well-written, and tells a story that is integral to truly understanding the "American Past-Time." Each contributes greatly to the ever-expanding mythology that has become the game of baseball. Here then, in no order what-so-ever, are the worthy contenders:
The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories - Tom Zappala
Some books are said to have great content (photos, stories) that simply leaps off the page - "The T206 Collection simply makes this happen on each and every page. Just from an aesthetic standpoint, I can't recall a more beautiful book in almost any genre. This book immediately reminded me of an old Topps baseball card television commercial, where the players seemd to jump right out of their cards - and author Zappala has replicated this effect, except his is one of quality of both content and design.
I certainly don't want yo u to think that this book is simply a "design marvel" without substance - it's quite the opposite. Style is astounding and compelling, but the substance, the "meat" if you will, is truly what allows the book to leap off the page- the stories of the players themselves! As someone who has recently struggled to trace back a portion of my family that I knew little to nothing about, I am well aware of the challenges involved in trying to uncover information about those who are long departed. Zappala tasked himself with bringing to life not a small family, but each and every player who appeared in the legendary T206 baseball card set, which was released over a three-year period (1909 - 1911), issued in cigarette and loose tobacco packages, numbered hundreds of players, and featured the most famous trading card of all-time, the legendary T206 HONUS WAGNER!
Zappala takes an interesting tack in dividing up the few hundred players whose faces once appeared on these cards; he divides them into six sections - "The Hall of Fame," "Overlooked by Cooperstown," "The Uncommons: Some Interesting Stories," "The Bad Boys of Baseball," "The Minor Leaguers" and "The Commons." Each chapter is laden with great detail, and Zappala manages to pack in tons of pertinent information and key components of each player's career into tightly woven paragraphs. It certainly leaves you wanting to know more, in a good way, about many of these fascinating men who often were simply names on a card (or a listing in a record book) to most fans - until now.
I know I'll never be able to afford a complete T206 set of cards, regardless of condition; but, with this book, the T206 Collection will now always be a part of my collection, too...
The Game From Where I Stand: A Ballplayer's Inside View - Doug Glanville
Baseball players aren't often looked at for their verbal and/or written skills- it's simply not part of their job (not that they're not intelligent, but it's simply not part of their job descriptions.) Over the years, writer's have often grown frustrated with some of the more "bland" (in their minds) subjects over the years, whether actual or perceived (see: Roger Maris!) Glanville, a former player, like Jim Bouton before him, offers an amazing and insightful look into the day-to-day world of today's baseball player, but not just from the eyes of a player, but more like it came from a buddy who simply wanted to share with you all that he'd learned about the game we both loved, without pretense, in a personal and engaging fashion. However, this "buddy" was blessed with a true insider's knowledge, the likes of which most of us will never get to share first-hand, whether it's a real-world perspective on the use of PEDs (neither accepting nor pointing fingers), to smaller, but just as interesting tidbits about what really goes on inside "kangaroo courts." Glanville has expanded upon his semi-regular columns in the New York Times to create an endearing (and what will become an enduring) look into the modern game of baseball, the way that only a player can possibly do.
I often find myself wondering what a player is thinking about when going through a slump; why one player was able to steal a sign, but another can't; and, most of all, how a player feels when his time under the spotlight draws to its inevitable conclusion. Glanville, a graduate of Penn (Ivy League all the way) and himself a quality outfielder over a career that lasted 9 years in the bigs, not only offers answers to these and so many additional questions, but in doing so, it's almost like he's opened the clubhouse and offered us a glance at things that haven't been shared in over 40 years, since the release of Bouton's iconic "Ball Four." (One of my friends would call it "getting a peak under the kimono; my daughter would say we got to "peak behind the curtain of Oz!") With "The Game From Where I Stand," Glanville goes one step further then those who preceded him; he paints a portrait of the life of the modern day baseball player not with broad strokes but with delicate brushwork, as we learn that, while money and "bling" might be what many outsiders see, the actual day-to-day lives that ballplayers live, from town to town, and season to season, while rarefied, are not without pratfalls and challenges all their own.
Glanville has now joined the ranks of the best "athlete-writers," and I get the sneaking suspicion that I'll be picking up this book again sometime between now and the start of Spring Training...it will certainly make the days and weeks between now and the regular season seem that much further away, but you'll want it to get here that much faster! Now when is the sequel coming out??
Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero - Tom Clavin & Danny Peary
The name "Roger Maris" is usually associated with two things - "61 homers" and "the asterisk." Most people know very little about the North Dakota native, including the fact that he was actually born in Minnesota, but simply decided to ignore that part of his background in favor of the state of his childhood. Maris had the temerity, the audacity, the outright ca-hones, to break the most sacred of all records in pro sports- Babe Ruth's 60 home runs in a single season, back in 1929, a record that everyone thought would truly stand the test of time- until it didn't.
Maris' life was largely that of a man who simply loved his family and utilized baseball to put bread on his table and a roof over his family's head. But he was also so much more than that. He was a hard worker who was one of the best all-around players in the game, what we call a "5-tool" player - he could hit, hit with power, run, throw and play great defense in right-field. By all rights, Maris should have been one of THE most beloved players to ever play the game. He's certainly someone you'd love your daughter to marry; you'd be ecstatic if he was your son; you'd be blessed if he called you friend. Yet, in a town known for it's baseball intelligence, New York, particularly those that favored the team in the Bronx, not only never took to Roger but in fact outright despised him. His only offense? Hitting those darn 61 homers!! Gee- what a horrible thing to do, huh? Maris' story doesn't begin nor end there, but that part of his life is not only the most interesting, but also the most confusing to anyone not around in those days. Idol-worship comes in all forms and sizes, but for some reason, in New York, if your last name wasn't Ruth, Gehrig or DiMaggio, you simply weren't worth the time of day. Mickey Mantle, one of the 10-best players to ever lace up a pair of cleats was repeatedly booed in the Bronx, ironically until the "outsider," Maris, came to town.
Maris rose to the major leagues by playing hard, being consistent, keeping his head down, and doing whatever it took to win a game, whether throwing to the right base or sliding in hard to break up a double-play. He was the ultimate "lunch-pail guy," a true gamer who deflected the bright lights to those around him, content to simply be allowed to play a game that didn't necessarily bring him great joy, but did allow him to provide his family a much better life, at least financially, then the one he lived through as a child. But that wasn't enough for Yankee fans and the writer's covering the team. Maris, quite frankly, wasn't a "Yankee." He began his career with Cleveland and Kansas City, and by the time he came to New York in 1960, he was already a finished product, no more then a "gun for hire." All he did in 1960 was win the MVP award, leading the team to the World Series, and stepping up when the other half of the "M&M Boys," Mantle himself, went through numerous injuries and bouts of poor judgment.
Maris further "offended" Yankee fans, many for all-time, by being the one to break the legendary "Sultan of Swat's" single-season home run record. Commissioner Ford Frick, bowing to pressure from cantankerous writers (like future Met-meddler, Dick Young), announced that, as Maris' chase came during the first year of major league expansion (adding teams and moving from 154 games to 162 and a balanced schedule), if he failed to break Ruth's record within the same 154 game-season that Ruth played within, the record would thereby always be demarcated with an "asterisk" along side it, a sentiment that sadly grew in popularity, everywhere, it seemed, except the Yankees clubhouse.
Maris was a beloved teammate, and in spite of rumors to the contrary, he and Mantle (along with teammate Bob Cerv) even lived together during the majority of that crazy 1961 season. In the end, after a series of injuries robbed Maris of a number of years at the end of his prime, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, perfect timing, it turns out, as the Yankees post-Maris were a mess for a number of years, while the Cardinals staked a path to the World Series, the place that the Yankees seemed to consider as their yearly "divine right." Maris saw great success during his 2 years in St. Louis, winning 2 pennants in '67 and '68, and a World Series in '67 in what was one of the best World Series' of all-time. (Ironically, Maris was immediately embraced by his mid-western brethren, and former Cardinal owner Gussie Busch set up Maris with a beer distributorship that made him and his family far more money then he ever saw from the tight-fisted Yankees.)
Authors Clavin and Peary offer great insight along the way, as they tell the story of someone who, by all rights, should have been another American hero, but due to nothing more than being a "boring" interview at a time when sports' journalism began looking past on-field contributions in writing their stories, Maris was a unique case of being in the "right place at the wrong time." At least Maris never had to see Mark McGwire and company break his record, as the slugger succumbed to Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1985, at the young age of 51. Now that PED-usage has come to light, Maris' accomplishments seem that much more special, and today, almost 50 years since he first broke the record, Maris himself is finally getting the credit he so richly deserved. (In one last sense of irony, both Maris and Mantle were featured in books that both made this list and came out in the same calendar year. More about the Mantle book in a future post in this series.)
I know I'll never be able to afford a complete T206 set of cards, regardless of condition; but, with this book, the T206 Collection will now always be a part of my collection, too...
The Game From Where I Stand: A Ballplayer's Inside View - Doug Glanville
Baseball players aren't often looked at for their verbal and/or written skills- it's simply not part of their job (not that they're not intelligent, but it's simply not part of their job descriptions.) Over the years, writer's have often grown frustrated with some of the more "bland" (in their minds) subjects over the years, whether actual or perceived (see: Roger Maris!) Glanville, a former player, like Jim Bouton before him, offers an amazing and insightful look into the day-to-day world of today's baseball player, but not just from the eyes of a player, but more like it came from a buddy who simply wanted to share with you all that he'd learned about the game we both loved, without pretense, in a personal and engaging fashion. However, this "buddy" was blessed with a true insider's knowledge, the likes of which most of us will never get to share first-hand, whether it's a real-world perspective on the use of PEDs (neither accepting nor pointing fingers), to smaller, but just as interesting tidbits about what really goes on inside "kangaroo courts." Glanville has expanded upon his semi-regular columns in the New York Times to create an endearing (and what will become an enduring) look into the modern game of baseball, the way that only a player can possibly do.
I often find myself wondering what a player is thinking about when going through a slump; why one player was able to steal a sign, but another can't; and, most of all, how a player feels when his time under the spotlight draws to its inevitable conclusion. Glanville, a graduate of Penn (Ivy League all the way) and himself a quality outfielder over a career that lasted 9 years in the bigs, not only offers answers to these and so many additional questions, but in doing so, it's almost like he's opened the clubhouse and offered us a glance at things that haven't been shared in over 40 years, since the release of Bouton's iconic "Ball Four." (One of my friends would call it "getting a peak under the kimono; my daughter would say we got to "peak behind the curtain of Oz!") With "The Game From Where I Stand," Glanville goes one step further then those who preceded him; he paints a portrait of the life of the modern day baseball player not with broad strokes but with delicate brushwork, as we learn that, while money and "bling" might be what many outsiders see, the actual day-to-day lives that ballplayers live, from town to town, and season to season, while rarefied, are not without pratfalls and challenges all their own.
Glanville has now joined the ranks of the best "athlete-writers," and I get the sneaking suspicion that I'll be picking up this book again sometime between now and the start of Spring Training...it will certainly make the days and weeks between now and the regular season seem that much further away, but you'll want it to get here that much faster! Now when is the sequel coming out??
Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero - Tom Clavin & Danny Peary
The name "Roger Maris" is usually associated with two things - "61 homers" and "the asterisk." Most people know very little about the North Dakota native, including the fact that he was actually born in Minnesota, but simply decided to ignore that part of his background in favor of the state of his childhood. Maris had the temerity, the audacity, the outright ca-hones, to break the most sacred of all records in pro sports- Babe Ruth's 60 home runs in a single season, back in 1929, a record that everyone thought would truly stand the test of time- until it didn't.
Maris' life was largely that of a man who simply loved his family and utilized baseball to put bread on his table and a roof over his family's head. But he was also so much more than that. He was a hard worker who was one of the best all-around players in the game, what we call a "5-tool" player - he could hit, hit with power, run, throw and play great defense in right-field. By all rights, Maris should have been one of THE most beloved players to ever play the game. He's certainly someone you'd love your daughter to marry; you'd be ecstatic if he was your son; you'd be blessed if he called you friend. Yet, in a town known for it's baseball intelligence, New York, particularly those that favored the team in the Bronx, not only never took to Roger but in fact outright despised him. His only offense? Hitting those darn 61 homers!! Gee- what a horrible thing to do, huh? Maris' story doesn't begin nor end there, but that part of his life is not only the most interesting, but also the most confusing to anyone not around in those days. Idol-worship comes in all forms and sizes, but for some reason, in New York, if your last name wasn't Ruth, Gehrig or DiMaggio, you simply weren't worth the time of day. Mickey Mantle, one of the 10-best players to ever lace up a pair of cleats was repeatedly booed in the Bronx, ironically until the "outsider," Maris, came to town.
Maris rose to the major leagues by playing hard, being consistent, keeping his head down, and doing whatever it took to win a game, whether throwing to the right base or sliding in hard to break up a double-play. He was the ultimate "lunch-pail guy," a true gamer who deflected the bright lights to those around him, content to simply be allowed to play a game that didn't necessarily bring him great joy, but did allow him to provide his family a much better life, at least financially, then the one he lived through as a child. But that wasn't enough for Yankee fans and the writer's covering the team. Maris, quite frankly, wasn't a "Yankee." He began his career with Cleveland and Kansas City, and by the time he came to New York in 1960, he was already a finished product, no more then a "gun for hire." All he did in 1960 was win the MVP award, leading the team to the World Series, and stepping up when the other half of the "M&M Boys," Mantle himself, went through numerous injuries and bouts of poor judgment.
Maris further "offended" Yankee fans, many for all-time, by being the one to break the legendary "Sultan of Swat's" single-season home run record. Commissioner Ford Frick, bowing to pressure from cantankerous writers (like future Met-meddler, Dick Young), announced that, as Maris' chase came during the first year of major league expansion (adding teams and moving from 154 games to 162 and a balanced schedule), if he failed to break Ruth's record within the same 154 game-season that Ruth played within, the record would thereby always be demarcated with an "asterisk" along side it, a sentiment that sadly grew in popularity, everywhere, it seemed, except the Yankees clubhouse.
Maris was a beloved teammate, and in spite of rumors to the contrary, he and Mantle (along with teammate Bob Cerv) even lived together during the majority of that crazy 1961 season. In the end, after a series of injuries robbed Maris of a number of years at the end of his prime, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, perfect timing, it turns out, as the Yankees post-Maris were a mess for a number of years, while the Cardinals staked a path to the World Series, the place that the Yankees seemed to consider as their yearly "divine right." Maris saw great success during his 2 years in St. Louis, winning 2 pennants in '67 and '68, and a World Series in '67 in what was one of the best World Series' of all-time. (Ironically, Maris was immediately embraced by his mid-western brethren, and former Cardinal owner Gussie Busch set up Maris with a beer distributorship that made him and his family far more money then he ever saw from the tight-fisted Yankees.)
Authors Clavin and Peary offer great insight along the way, as they tell the story of someone who, by all rights, should have been another American hero, but due to nothing more than being a "boring" interview at a time when sports' journalism began looking past on-field contributions in writing their stories, Maris was a unique case of being in the "right place at the wrong time." At least Maris never had to see Mark McGwire and company break his record, as the slugger succumbed to Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 1985, at the young age of 51. Now that PED-usage has come to light, Maris' accomplishments seem that much more special, and today, almost 50 years since he first broke the record, Maris himself is finally getting the credit he so richly deserved. (In one last sense of irony, both Maris and Mantle were featured in books that both made this list and came out in the same calendar year. More about the Mantle book in a future post in this series.)
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