Rating: 
Summary: Joe Would Never Have Approved!
Review: Joe DiMaggio is one of the top American icons of the 20th Century, and his his biographer, Richard Cramer does everything possible to lift the veil of the image and expose the truth.
And that he does. Through extensive research, much, I imagine, only made possible after DiMaggio died, Cramer exposes all of DiMaggio's warts.
And while the book is interesting, and a very good read, one has to wonder why DiMaggio turned out as he did. Was he the end result of an American public who couldn't get enough, or was he simply cheap, vain, bitter, and lonely because that's the way he was? Cramer's biographer of DiMaggio doesn't offer much insight, and the reader is left wondering why he became so bitter and negative.
There are also some serious gaps in the biography. We jump from Marilyn Monroe's death, in 1962, to the San Francisco earthquake of 1989. What happened in those 27 years?
Finally, thoughout the book, Cramer writes in the vernacular of DiMaggio's friends, and the vernacular of the day, so good portions of the book read like a mafia novel, or read like it was written by one of DiMaggio's friends. This is somewhat disconcerting, and takes away from the seriousness of the book.
The Dago references, pointed out by other reviewers, didn't really bother me, as that was apparently Joe's nickname.
Overall, not a bad book, but not a complete biography of one of baseball's greatest either.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent biography
Review: This is a fantastic and superb account of Joe DiMaggio's baseball career and a sad account of his life after baseball. DiMaggio the player was without parallel. DiMaggio the man apparently fell way short of the mark.and is very sad to realize what a sad, lonely man he really was.Cramer has written a masterful biography of a very complex and complicated man.
Rating:
Summary: One view of DiMaggio's Life
Review: This is a real eye opener about the behind the scenes life of one of the super-star ball players of the 30's, 40's, and 50's. His father was a poor Italian immigrant and fisherman. From the first Joe was a leader and an all star ball player. After joining the New York Yankees, he became their leader and the heart of the team. He was considered a super hero and apparently pretty much owned New York in off hours. Almost anywhere he appeared, such as restaurants, he not only was not charged for anything but was frequently paid quite handsomely for it. The business owners apparently believe that his being there was good for business. Many of the mob big wigs were involved in this sort of thing and DiMaggio had a bank account started by one of the mob leaders where money was deposited automatically when he made an appearance at one of their establishments. There is no mention or evidence of his being involved with the mob otherwise. After his retirement from professional baseball a bit early because of bad operations for bone spurs on his heals, he was still thought of as a hero and his public appearance business and the business of baseball memorabilia carried on. He became a multimillionaire from these things. There are allegations that his memorabilia sales were taken away from his heirs by a business manager.His involvements with his first wife and with Marilyn Monroe are well detailed with inside looks at all the problems and the few good times. He seems to have been totally in love with each in turn and not to have received what he needed from either.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic.
Review: Perhaps my all-time baseball-related read, Richard Ben Cramer's biography of Joe DiMaggio is both statistically informative and emotionally insightful - and juicy to boot! In-depth and rich in characterizations, this book is a fantastic read. One should note, however, that this book is not for everyone. It's definitely a love-it-or-hate-it piece of literature. Why? Well, since I'm on the "Love It" side of the fence, I'm not so sure, but a few factors to consider: 1) It's quite thick. 2)It most definitely has slow patches. They do add to the story, but they can also make the book too slow-moving for the easily disinterested reader. (This was true for my friend. It ended up taking her two months to read this. I was really enraptured with the story and finished it in a day and a half.) 3) Remember, it IS a biography, so if you don't like biographies... well, let's just say that "A Hero's Life" certainly does no reinvention of genre.
So, now you must want to know why to read it. Principally, Joe DiMaggio makes an extraordinary focal character. In this portrayal, he is most certainly not the perfect "hero" America made him out to be during his life and reading his exploits is certainly entertaining. Furthermore, Cramer has, in my opinion, a great writing style. For some, he may include too much detail, but as far as I'm concerned, more is better in biographies.
"A Hero's Life" is most definitely one of the best biographies I've ever read and while it's not for everyone, it's without a doubt worth a look-over.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody's Perfect
Review: Where is it written that a guy who is good at something must also be a "good guy"? No one sets out to be a hero; it is something thrust on a sports star by fans and the media. Both fans and the media will lick a player's boots one day and spit in his eye the next if he doesn't live up to their image of him, on or off the field. (In Columbus, Ohio, this is a weekly occurrence during the college football season.) So DiMaggio wasn't a nice guy. He wasn't much of a talker. He was dull and boring. His friends were low-class punks. He was sexist. He was unfaithful. He was mean spirited. All of this you will learn from Cramer's book. But you will also learn the details of DiMaggio's glorious baseball career: game-by-game accounts of his 56-game hitting streak; details of his hitting, fielding, and base-running styles; running commentary on big games. If you're interested in DiMaggio's baseball career, this book gives you a lot. When I read the words "elegantly written" in the Amazon review of this book, my jaw dropped. This is one of the most inelegantly written books I've ever read. Open the book anywhere, and you'll find examples like these:
p. 152: Big games, it was like the whole city went.
p. 153: Hell, by that time the early birds already had half a load on.
p. 153: ...if you didn't like them, why'd you come to his joint?
p. 154: Toots...would drink with them till they got their full load on.
p. 156: The way she dressed, classy.
p. 156: That's what paid the freight.
p. 156: Joe wasn't the kind who could scratch that itch for her. This is elegant writing? Perhaps Cramer wrote the book with the audio version in mind. His slovenly and annoying diction probably sounds better than it reads. My advice is to read this book for the baseball and take the rest with a grain of salt or skip the nonbaseball parts entirely.
Rating: 
Summary: DiMaggio DiSappoints
Review: Another "untouchable" is disrobed in public. First, Boston priests, now this. It's a greasy tabloid in book form, mostly undocumented with impossibly intimate, fly-on-the-wall commentary. Please. It's a slow read but a decent bathroom book. Yes, you CAN put it down. Joe D. comes off as a miserly skinflint with a cold winter gripping his soul, enjoying an alarming countenance with the Mob and tortuous relationships with a succession of bimbos (one more notable than the rest.) He displays as an unrequited Scrooge, sleeping alone all through Christmas Eve with no trio of ghostly visitors to save him from himself. Humbug. This book debunks all the legend, all the grace and presence of the man, other than his undeniable prowess on the field. This hero wore a black hat. Buy it used or get it as a present.
Rating:
Summary: This View of Joe Will Jolt You
Review: This is a totally absorbing book. Not all writers can get away with an informal, vernacular style, but Cramer pulls it off--reading the book is like listening to an occasionally breathless but always fascinating raconteur hold forth. It's as if the author were talking to the reader personally, narrating the story. The choice of words in the title is telling: not "a" hero's life, which would imply that DiMaggio was a genuine hero, but "the" hero's life, implying that the subject's actual life was greatly at variance with his heroic image, as it certainly was. Some DiMaggio fans are offended that Cramer didn't write a worshipful puff-piece; instead he revealed what a cold, mean-spirited, greedy guy DiMaggio really was. But the author also helps the reader understand how DiMaggio got that way, and it's this quality that makes the book so extraordinary. Two criticisms of aspects of the book that make it less than a five-star production: The author's repeated use of the term "Dago" when referring to DiMaggio could perhaps be explained by the fact that many people of the time really did refer to DiMaggio with that ethnic slur, but it's still offensive and unnecessary. People in the past may indeed have referred to DiMaggio that way, but that doesn't mean Cramer should compound the error by throwing the term around so frequently himself! If he were writing about Hank Greenberg, I'll bet he wouldn't refer to him throughout his text as "The Hebe" or "The Kike." Nor, if he were writing about Jackie Robinson, would he dream of referring to his subject as "The Nig," or by whatever other racist slurs were hurled at Robinson. The other criticism is that I was constantly wondering how the author could possibly have known some of the things he includes. Maybe this is just awe at Cramer's reportorial skills, but since he includes no source notes, we have to take him at his word. He may well have had many talky informants, especially after DiMaggio's death, but I don't think anybody could have followed Joe into the bedroom with Marilyn Monroe, the way Cramer pretends to do!
Rating:
Summary: Part Sports Illustrated, Part National Enquirer
Review: A pretty good book, I guess. It's hard to follow up on sources when no notes are given. There's a bit of bawdy stuff about Dimaggio's sexual escapades, his thoughts on sexual intimacy and the size of his genitals. For a while you forget it's a bio of Dimaggio and think you're reading a bio of Marilyn Monroe. A little earthy and rough, but interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life
Review: In Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life, Richard Ben Cramer accomplishes two things. He celebrates Joe DiMaggio -- the baseball player -- and hero to millions. He then denigrates DiMaggio -- the man -- who far too often failed in his personal relationships inside and outside of baseball. In taking this approach, Cramer creates a three dimensional DiMaggio, one which has been far too often lost in puff pieces of the past. Prior to reading this book, I would have described DiMaggio as: graceful, stoic, guarded, strong, elegant, heroic, and selfless. After reading this book, I would still use these adjectives, but I would also add: cheap, greedy, self-indulgent, small, and spiteful. No one is perfect; with all people there is good and bad. Despite the negative imagery of DiMaggio that frequently runs throughout the book, the reader never loses sight of the fact that DiMaggio overcame the poorest beginnings, played hurt, wanted to win, and even -- at times -- tried to learn to learn to face his flaws. However, the saddest part of DiMaggio's life, which is implied in Cramer's writing, is that he was never able to face those who loved him (his closest friends), swallow his pride, and apologize for how poorly he treated them. It is this lack of an "epiphany" that makes DiMaggio's life so tragic. Perhaps Joltin' Joe should have learned something about dying from Mickey Mantle, who publicly admitted his alcoholism to his fans, and whose stature was raised well beyond hero at his death. This book was obviously well researched and is well-written; it is not surprising that Cramer has won a pulitizer. Please note, however, that Cramer's style is a terse vernacular. At times his grammar leaves something to be desired. I found myself cringing when I found the double negative "not hardly" in the book. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the life of Joe DiMaggio.
Rating:
Summary: Shakespere was right....Kill all the lawyers!!!!!
Review: Really enjoyed the book until I got to the part which discussed the tactics employed by that bloodsucking SOB Morris Englebert (Joe's lawyer) Attorneys like him have helped to give the legal profession it's despicable reputation.
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