This book focuses on the diplomatic history of the United States from 1801-1815. There is very little social history, and "the people" are usually only reffered to in their reaction to larger political and diplomatic events. However, the author's style is readable and catching. Diplomatic history can be very boring, but Smelser has melded academic scholarship with writing that can interest almost anyone.

A better Ruth biography is Robert Creamer's "Ruth: The Legend Comes to Life." Smelzer's book is a little too scholarly. He treats his subject as if it were a frog to be dissected. As I read on, I found myself skipping over the parts where the authors opinionated observations began to get in the way of his believability. After a while they just became tiring, and I put the book down.

Some legends are larger than life. Some legends are made up. Then there's Babe Ruth, than man by which all other baseball players are measured, even today. George Herman Ruth comes to life in this riveting, yet easy to read biography by Marshall Smelser.

You follow the bambino from his early days at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys to his early days with the Boston Red Sox. You read about his turmoil with the fans, his trade to the New York Yankees, that later became the curse of the Bambino.

Smelser's accounts of Ruth's life from his first wife to the run ins with Yankees manager Miller Huggins to the called shot in the 1934 World Series and so many others, will have laughing on minute and on the brink of tears the very next.

I have always been a great Babe Ruth fan; so reviewing this book was a no brainer. Smelser writing style made it easy for me to read along and finally get a true picture of the man so many either loved or hated. I would highly recommend this book to any serious baseball fan!

It is a book about a hero that evrybody thought was perfect. In this book you get to see the life behind the face. There are so many legend and this book so the truth and tells you the miths.