My purpose in writing The Mountain Empire League was to explain how the world still had a long way to go in the immediate aftermath of Jackie Robinson. To the best of my knowledge, no work of fiction has ever focused on the hardships faced by young African-American men who were hoping to make a career for themselves in professional baseball. The story of the sport's integration, most especially in the minor leagues, needs to be told, because it is filled with a great many unsung heroes. Through the use of a fictional league and characters, I have attempted to tell that tale, and salute them as the pioneers they were.
I do not believe this is strictly a "baseball novel." Baseball is most assuredly the backdrop, but it is a book about America, the nation we were and the nation we were trying to become. Set primarily in 1951 and 1952, we are exposed to a country that was beginning to see and hear the rumblings of social change, sights and sounds that, sadly, have not abated with time.
Sprache
Produkt-Hinweis
Broschur/Paperback
Klebebindung
Maße
Höhe: 229 mm
Breite: 152 mm
Dicke: 24 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
979-8-8689-0725-8 (9798868907258)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Marshall Adesman will always have one leg in the North. But having spent more than half his life below the Mason-Dixon line, the other leg is most definitely planted in the South. He spent a dozen years in minor league baseball, working as an assistant general manager, general manager and business manager for teams located in St. Petersburg, Florida; Amarillo, Texas; Waterloo, Iowa; Utica, New York; Pulaski, Virginia; and three cities in the State of North Carolina-Durham, Greensboro and Raleigh. Many of the incidents found in The Mountain Empire League are based on things he experienced, either directly or indirectly, during his time in the game, and many of the characters found in the book are based on people he knew and worked with in those towns. He is also the co-author of an historical book, The 25 Greatest Baseball Teams of the 20th Century Ranked, contributed to two other nonfiction works, and served as an associate editor on the two-volume history, Baseball's Business: The Winter Meetings. After 21 years at Duke University, he and his wife retired to the beautiful mountains of Northeast Tennessee in 2009.
