docjh's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic reporting. Leavy uncovers new information and corrects some long-standing misperceptions about the Babe. The forensic accounting of Ruth's income and wealth are fascinating and worthwhile. Though the writing itself is excellent, the narrative structure is choppy and, in my opinion, distracting (otherwise would be a 5-star review).
timmens59's review against another edition
4.0
Jane Levy, one of our best sports writers, arrived at an interesting narrative approach and thread -- a grueling barnstorming tour of the country featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig playing in exhibition games between local players -- to examine Babe's life off the field, including his childhood, his relationships, his lifestyle, his ambition, and his massive and magnificent celebrity across the world. In the process, she corrects many of the fictions -- Babe the orphan, for instance, or Babe the spendthrift (He enjoyed the good things in life but thanks to his business manager he had a nice trust to live off in retirement) -- that so many ink-stained wretches made up about him to make their stories and books sell. This had to have been painstakingly researched and the bio's novella of end notes prove this. To be sure, this bio is not centered on his exploits on the field. It's as the title expresses, "The World He Created," a much wider examination of his life and times.
rross374's review against another edition
4.0
If you are looking for a book on Babe’s day to day activities during the season this book is not for you. If however you wanted to know how he was able to get endorsement deals making more money barnstorming during the off season. The Author gave a detailed story about the baby Ruth candy bar issue and both what probably happened. Babe was cheated by a candy company trying to benefit from Ruth’s fame. Great deal of research explaining some stories I had heard before some I had not. A great read.
socraticgadfly's review against another edition
4.0
Solid, but just not quite there. Like other reviewers who compared it to "The Last Boy," her bio of the Mick, it came up short compared to that.
I did appreciate the amount of things I learned about Ruth's childhood. As with Mantle, she was able to delve into that background and show to some fair degree how it drove him. Ditto on both his marriages, and learning that his daughter with Helen was apparently never legally adopted, and was likely Ruth's daughter, but by another woman.
That said, the structure of trying to tell Ruth's life through barnstorming appearances after the 1927 World Series is probably the biggest failing here.
It just doesn't work on its own, and otherwise, it becomes a mix of veneer and distraction from a straight-up bio.
I did appreciate the amount of things I learned about Ruth's childhood. As with Mantle, she was able to delve into that background and show to some fair degree how it drove him. Ditto on both his marriages, and learning that his daughter with Helen was apparently never legally adopted, and was likely Ruth's daughter, but by another woman.
That said, the structure of trying to tell Ruth's life through barnstorming appearances after the 1927 World Series is probably the biggest failing here.
It just doesn't work on its own, and otherwise, it becomes a mix of veneer and distraction from a straight-up bio.
johnnygamble's review against another edition
3.0
It is well researched, and well- (if not over-) written. I just didn't like the narrative structure. I guess if you're going to tell the reader in the prologue that this will not be a biography of the Babe because other books have done that, don't then give me a biography of the Babe. And the non-linear structure didn't fit with the narrative of the barnstorming tour.
jbjcubs's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't like the layout of the story - jumps all over the place - and the writing is pretty dry in a lot of its accounts and descriptions, which is hard to believe given that the subject, times and places all lend themselves to a Golden Age in US History.
jeffw's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed the new anecdotes about Babe, but did not like the organization of the book.
sophronisba's review against another edition
4.0
The romance of sports is, for the most part, lost on me, but I enjoyed this anyway.
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