Eric Nusbaum

Interested in LA history (yep, we have one), as well as how government and politics can go terribly wrong? Throw in a bit of baseball history and this is a compelling read. Nusbaum is fantastic at building a tapestry from the threads of dozens of lives until the entire story is told.

Nusbaum provides an informative and compelling account of a cluster of quite ugly historical events that contradictorily produced a much beloved space (Dodgers stadium). I knew the arc of the story--the destruction of the Chavez Ravine community by forces first of housing "redevelopment" and then private development--from the excellent, but short, documentary "Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story," but Nusbaum's book provide much more information and detail, and a deeper political analysis.

Major league sports and their political friends provide striking horror stories about cronyism. Taxpayers help to pay players' million-dollar salaries, not by choice. Cops kick people out of their homes and bulldozers destroy them so teams can build stadiums.

I thought that Eric Nusbaum's _Stealing Home_ told the story of one of those crony deals. In 1959 Los Angeles grabbed neighborhoods by eminent domain, supposedly to build a housing project, and then sold it to Walter O'Malley so he could show more move the Brooklyn Dodgers to LA. The people who thought they'd get new homes had been lied to.

_Stealing Home_ supposedly tells that story. It starts well, focusing on the razing of Abrana Aréchiga's home. But then the book rambles interminably. It covers Mexican migrants from previous generations, the Mexican War, Santa Anna's role in the invention of baseball cards, Abner Doubleday's lack of any role in the invention of baseball, and more.

After a few dozen pages of this, I started skimming, hoping to get to the story of Chavez Ravine and Dodger Stadium. Shortly after page 100, I gave up. A book needs to earn the time I spend reading it, and this one had run out of credit.

There are some good books about governmental grabs of people's homes for the benefit of politicians' pals. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. show less