{"product_id":"9780865549319","title":"The Great God Baseball: Religion in Modern Baseball Fiction","description":"Within the excellent, if underrated, body of adult baseball fiction that emerged in the latter half of the twentieth century, one finds a distinctive subgenre of baseball novels that feature the religious aspirations of their characters and the spiritual qualities of the game of baseball. \u003ci\u003eThe Great God Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e looks at nine of these novels, including lesser known gems and established classics. It endeavors to make them more accessible to casual as well as serious readers, fans and non-fans alike, through discussion of key motifs, analysis of unique narrative structure, and frequent cross-references that locate the works in a literary context.\u003cp\u003e  The Literary Line-Up includes:  1. Douglass Wallop, \u003ci\u003eThe Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant\u003c\/i\u003e (1954)  2. James F. Donohue, \u003ci\u003eSpitballs and Holy Water\u003c\/i\u003e (1977)  3. Jerome Charyn, \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Babe\u003c\/i\u003e (1979)  4. W. P. Kinsella, \u003ci\u003eShoeless Joe\u003c\/i\u003e (1982)  5. Eric Rolfe Greenberg, \u003ci\u003eThe Celebrant\u003c\/i\u003e (1983)  6. Nancy Willard, \u003ci\u003eThings Invisible to See\u003c\/i\u003e (1984)  7. W. P. Kinsella, \u003ci\u003eThe Iowa Baseball Confederacy\u003c\/i\u003e (1986)  8. David James Duncan, \u003ci\u003eThe Brothers K\u003c\/i\u003e (1992)  9. Darryl Brock, \u003ci\u003eHavana Heat\u003c\/i\u003e (2000)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  The varied religious experiences portrayed in these superb novels stimulate us to engage our society, our national pastime, our own imagination, and our sense of spiritual awareness. From a literary encounter with the great game of baseball, we emerge, as if from a church, temple, or ball park, different, re-created people. \u003ci\u003eThe Great God Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e seeks to be an agent for this encounter.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mercer University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47022292533488,"sku":"9780865549319","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780865549319","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}