* Review: Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend

June 15, 2009

The New York Times’ Janet Maslin published this review of Larry Tye’s new biography of the great Paige.

Upshot:

“All the African-American luminaries had climbed to the top of their fields, but none did it with Satchel’s over-the-top style and charm,” Mr. Tye claims. “And none of the others had been seen up close by as many blacks in as many places as the itinerant Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige.”

Mr. Tye’s willingness to come to these or any other level-headed conclusions about his subject is made remarkable by the elusiveness of hard facts.

***

Mr. Tye … approaches the Paige story with a grasp of what it meant for black men to be traveling all over segregated America….

He also radiates an obvious affection for Mr. Paige, but his is not a fan’s unquestioning love. He sees the aloofness beneath the crowd-pleasing charm, the caginess behind the exaggerated sang-froid and the selfishness behind the self-promotion.

“Satchel” succeeds in putting these attributes into perspective.

0Shares

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post:

script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-5496371-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();