The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse

by Rich Cohen Narrated by Adam Grupper

Overview

A captivating blend of reportage and memoir exploring the history of the Chicago Cubs For Rich Cohen and millions of other fans, the Chicago Cubs have always been more than a team: they've been the protagonists of a King Arthur epic, in search of the Holy Grail that is winning the World Series. A chronicle of the last few miraculous seasons as experienced through the prism of Cubs history, The Chicago Cubs tracks the famous curse, which was placed on the team in 1945 by the infamous owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, who was ejected from Wrigley Field when he tried to bring his goat into the grandstand for the fifth game of the World Series. He vowed the team would never get back to the championship. And they haven't-until now. Cohen follows the Cubs' early days as the first powerhouse baseball team, winners of the 1907 and 1908 World Series; their storied players, such as Billy Sunday, the 2nd baseman who became the most popular preacher in America; their old stadiums; their owners, from chewing gum magnate William Wrigley to Thomas Ricketts, CEO of Ameritrade; and their time between the two World Wars; all of it leading up to the momentous last World Series appearance and the breaking of the famed curse. A captivating blend of reportage and memoir, drawing on Cohen's extensive interviews and travels with recent Cubs players, owners, and coaching staff, The Cubs is a portrait not only of a team, but also of a city, of a game, and of what it means to be a perpetually disappointed fan who is finally rewarded.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

★ 10/23/2017
Cohen (Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football) offers an energetic account of the drought between the Chicago Cubs’ 1908 World Series win and their incredible triumph in 2016. He nicely details the team’s ups and downs over those 108 years and intersperses his narrative with recollections from his own childhood and early-adult obsession in the 1970s and 80s with the team. His depiction of Cubs lore (“some worldly, some mystical”), such as the glory of first baseman Ernie Banks (“the perfect cub, ideally suited for the role of a great player on a terrible team” from 1953 to 1971) and the near misses of the 1969, 1984, and 2003 seasons, is coupled with informative writing that’s infused with the fatalism of a long-suffering Cubs fan. (He notes that Cubs General Manager Epstein said it would take five years to win a World series, “the same amount of time Stalin said he’d need to create a workers’ paradise.”) He shows how the legendary “curse” on the Cubs has taken many forms over 100 years, such as the curse of the billy goat in the 1945 World Series. The final third of the book is an exciting look at the Cubs’ winning 2016 season that includes a game-by-game description of the playoffs. This book has something new even for the most hardcore Cubs fans. (June)

From the Publisher

New York Times Best Seller

“[There] is already a succession of books on the Chicago Cubs’ historic 2016 World Series championship . . . but [Cohen's] might be the best, since it’s both a deeply satisfying historical account of that colorful franchise and a compelling, all-too-painful personal narrative of one longtime, besotted Cubs fan." —Booklist, starred review

"[Cohen] rehearses in swift, entertaining fashion the genesis of the team and its glory years (there were many early on) and long decades of mediocrity . . . His many personal stories, strung like holiday lights throughout the narrative, illuminate a fan's frangible heart that annually repaired itself." —Kirkus

Library Journal

09/15/2017
In his new book, Cohen (Monsters: The 1985 Bears and the Wild Heart of Football) takes a spin through the history of the Chicago Cubs, including the team's numerous curses and the already legendary roster that finally broke them all in 2016. The Curse of the Billy Goat is as much a part of the team's lore as first baseman Ernie Banks, Wrigley Fields's ivy, and announcer Harry Caray declaring that someday the Cubs would win the World Series. Cohen, who is known for writing about popular music as well as sports, brings a brash, kinetic style to his many stories of the figures in Cub history. The people he writes about—Ron Santo, Hack Wilson, Mordecai Brown, Grover Cleveland Alexander—almost feel like rock stars in Cohen's hands. This book moves along rapidly through Cubs history up to the 2016 team, to which the volume's largest portion is dedicated. Cohen's love for the Cubs and baseball, along with his well-developed style, put this book above other recent Cubs-related releases. VERDICT Baseball fans will devour this all-too-brief review of the Cubs' frustrating history yet joyous present.—Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171169275
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	10/03/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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