Stealing Home: Review

The dramatic story of Chavez Ravine starts long before the Dodgers hit their first home run at Dodger Stadium. Eric Nusbaum paints a very lively picture of the neighborhood. He has the abillity to make the locals come alive in a way you get sucked into their history from page one.

It's a history about communism, mexican immigrants, social housing, a city council in doubt.

It might be the single most important book about the history of LA Dodgers baseball, that's 95% not about baseball. It explains why the Dodgers had so much difficulty to gain a Mexican American fanbase in the early years, before Valenzuela.

I can recommend you read it before or after 'City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles' (my review available HERE). Both books give you an excellent understanding of Los Angeles and how it's basics for the city today were laid down in the 50's and 60's.