Stealing Home, Eric Nusbaum
Stealing Home, Eric Nusbaum
2 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Stealing Home
Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between

Author: Eric Nusbaum

Narrator: David Owen Nelson

Unabridged: 8 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 03/24/2020


Synopsis

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 Aréchigas, who refused to yield their home. The ensuing confrontation captivated the nation—and the divisive outcome still reverberates through Los Angeles today.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeff on April 28, 2020

I liked this book a lot. It is very well written. As one of Frank Wilkinson's children, I can attest to the fact that the author stuck to the facts. It is a heartbreaking story of the destruction of a beautiful community.......more

Goodreads review by Blaine on March 24, 2020

Thank you Perseus Books and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review. I spent 3 years in Los Angeles in the mid-70's and fell in love with the area. And in the past year I have been fortunate to have read 3 different books about Los Angeles and its Urban Development, athletics and......more

Goodreads review by Blaine on March 24, 2020

Thank you Perseus Books and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review. I spent 3 years in Los Angeles in the mid-70's and fell in love with the area. And in the past year I have been fortunate to have read 3 different books about Los Angeles and its Urban Development, athletics and......more


Quotes

"A well-known tale of racial injustice given a fresh look...Provocative, essential reading."
Kirkus

"Eric Nusbaum takes several overlooked threads of history and weaves them into a vivid tapestry of twentieth-century America that is at once sprawling and intimate, raw and poignant. Stealing Home is a relevant and important book--and a fantastic read."—Margot Lee Shetterly, New York Times-bestselling author of Hidden Figures

"Stealing Home has a driving plot, a humane heart, and a proud conscience. Read it and enjoy the story, or read it and get mad, or read it and change your mind. Most importantly, read it."—Chuck D, founding member of Public Enemy

"In my family, the Dodgers caused pain and disillusionment when they left Brooklyn. But what happened in Los Angeles is a second drama with its own measure of financial manipulation, political intrigue, and working-class heartache. Stealing Home takes on a whole new meaning in Eric Nusbaum's marvelous book."—David Maraniss, New York Times-bestselling author of When Pride Still Mattered and Clemente

"As a sports book, Stealing Home is astonishingly good-but it's more than just a sports book. The human experience it depicts resonates far beyond Los Angeles. The writing is lean, hard, and urgent. You'll read it quickly and think about it for a long time."—Brian Phillips, New York Times-bestselling author of Impossible Owls

"A story perfectly told, riveting, moving, and deeply human."—Will Leitch, author of Are We Winning? and God Save the Fan

"A detailed, compelling history that goes well beyond Los Angeles. Eric Nusbaum asks an urgent modern question: What do the things we love actually cost? And who pays the price?"—Jay Caspian Kang, writer-at-large, New York Times Magazine