Randy Roberts - War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War

A remarkable new book.

Jeremy Schaap, ESPN

In the midst of the curveball that is this crisis, sporty titles are helping satiate those who typically prefer spring training to spring releases. War Fever, a new book by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith, examines how baseball converged with the countrys last terrible pandemic. Among the tidbits revealed: In 1918, Babe Ruth had the so-called Spanish flu twiceso baseball, at least, has been here before.

Washington Post

An entertaining reminder that American hero worship, media hype, and fierce nationalism havent changed much in a century.

Kirkus

A compelling look at a tumultuous moment in US history through the lives of three extraordinary individuals. Fans of 20th-century American culture as well as Boston and World War I history will rejoice.

Library Journal

Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith didnt set out to write a book about the Spanish-flu pandemic of 1918, but the outbreak looms like the ghost at the banquet over their new book War Fever. A recurring storyline that runs through the books narrative has a much more urgent feel today as America is in the grips of the worst pandemic since that terrible autumn.

National Review

Roberts and Smith have a brilliant knack for finding unexplored subjects and bringing them fully to life. This haunting, elegantly written book is the story of Bostonbut really America itselfset against the background of a raging global war, momentous lifestyle changes, and an influenza epidemic that would kill more people in a shorter time than any event in human history. Told through the eyes of three vibrant characters, War Fever is a sober reminder of the forces that came together in 1918 to confront the Great War and shape the nations future.

David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Polio: An American Story

What a terrific book. With in-depth research and absorbing storytelling, Roberts and Smith bring to life a tumultuous chapter of American history. A Brahmin becomes a reluctant hero. A famous German conductor sits in an internment camp. A darn good pitcher turns out to be the best hitter of baseballs the world ever has seen. This will be the best few stay-at-home nights youll have in some time.

Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

Carefully researched, full of dramatic moments and keen insights, and written with panache, War Fever is at once an impressive act of historical recovery and a ripping good tale. Weaving together the stories of the nations greatest military hero, one of its most dastardly villains, and its most celebrated professional athlete, Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith vividly reconstruct the historical forces that reshaped Boston and reconfigured American life during World War I.

Bruce J. Schulman, Boston University

Roberts and Smith have written a fascinating and impressive book that sheds new light on the home front during World War I by examining the lives of three men and the city they loved. The fast-paced narrative is full of colorful characters, suspense, and intrigue. Although deeply researched and full of insight, the book reads more like a suspense novel than a work of history. Valuable for both history lovers and casual readers.

Steven M. Gillon, author of Americas Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy

War Fever brilliantly weaves together the lives of three celebrities to tell the story of how the First World War reshaped America. Richly detailed and a pleasure to read.

Michael S. Neiberg, author of The Path to War: How the First World War Created Modern America

For the grandfather I never knew and the father

I knew too briefly, but loved dearly.

Charles Henry Roberts (18971929)

US Army, Mexican Expeditionary Force

American Expeditionary Force, France

Northern Russia Expeditionary Force

Clifford Edwin Roberts (19231963)

US Navy, World War II, Pacific

RWR

For me, Boston means baseball and bonding with

family. And Fenway Park will forever be the place

where my sister McKenna and I celebrated the joys of

being together. This book is for her.

JMS

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

George Santayana, 1922