Peter Golenbock interview

<p>Bob Andelman, aka Mr. Media, posted this in-depth <a href=”http://www.mrmedia.com/2007/03/fridays-with-mr-media-peter-golenbock7.html”>interview with Peter Golenbock, author of 7</a>, the already-controversial-though-not-yet-released novel about Mickey Mantle.</p>

<p>A veteran of such notable baseball titles as <em>Dynasty; The Bronx Zoo</em>, which he wrote with Sparky Lyle; <em>Balls</em>, (Craig Nettles); <em>Guidry</em> (Ron Guidry); <em>Number One (</em>Billy Martin); and <em>Wild, High, and Tight</em>, written about Billy Martin, as well as team histories of the Cubs, Red Sox, Cardinals and Mets, <em>7</em> is Golenbock’s first work of fiction.</p>

<p>Among the highlights:</p>

<ul><li>Golenbock admits, "I knew when I wrote it that some people would really love it, some people would like it, and there would be a small majority and probably a vocal majority who would resent it."</li>

<li>About the explicit sexual content in<em> </em>7: "[S]ex is a very funny thing. It’s a very large part of our society. We have <span style=”FONT-STYLE: italic”>Playboy</span> and <span style=”FONT-STYLE: italic”>Maxim</span> and God knows what else, and if you look on TV, there is sex here, there, and everywhere, and yet, you know, for a certain part of society, it drives them crazy. They try to pretend that it doesn’t exist and that nobody does it. And so you write about sex, and they act like you are committing some kind of crime."</li>

<li>Golenbock says the book "is absolutely absed on fact."</li>

<li>About the question of whether people might be disheartened by Mantle’s off-the-field exploits: "When people want to know what this man was really like a hundred years from now, this book is what’s the book that is going to tell them what he was really like. And people, if they’re wise, are not going to think less of him for it."</li>

<li>On the cancellation of O.J. Simpson’s literary project, which, like <em>7</em>, were both products of ReganBooks:  " have a funny philosophy, which is that under the First Amendment, a writer has a right to write anything. If O. J. wants to write his whatever that thing was, he’s got a right to do it, and I as a book buyer have a right to decide whether I want to buy it or whether not, and I think canceling these books is a disgrace. It’s a political solution."</li></ul>

<p>You can listen to the interview <a href=”http://www.andelman.com/mrmedia-pod/MM-PeterGolenbock030707.mp3″>here</a>.</p>

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