Rating: 
Summary: A tour de force of reporting
Review: "A Hero's Life," tells the full story of Joe DiMaggio. He feels real through these pages, not altogether admirable, but real. The scuttlebutt about this book, at least for me, had been that it was overwhelmingly negative and highly critical. I did not find it so. Instead, Cramer writes sometimes with awe, sometimes with disappointment, sometimes with disgust, at DiMaggio and the sycophantic nature of his so-called friends. I would give 5 stars if it were a little clearer on just how DiMaggio's athletic talents were developed. That, I admit, is a wee bit of nitpicking.
Rating: 
Summary: DiMaggio Uncovered
Review: Joe DiMaggio, who certainly was one of the most graceful and publicly admired athletes ever, had a dark and less publicized side. Imagine that, a celebrity who had something to hide--this is no surprise and is a poor way to market this book. While Cramer does include some seamy details about DiMaggio's personal life, most of the story is about the creation of his myth. Cramer obviously admires his subject and thought very highly of him, but I suppose in a tabloid era, gossip sells. This biography is very well written and extensively researched, so if you do not know much about Joltin' Joe, this is an excellent place to learn and I am sure it will leave you in awe of his presence on the field. There was a lot of relatively unsubstantiated claims about DiMaggio and many of his associates which detract from the story and make the author seem less than professional, but all in all this is a wonderful book and I would highly recommend it to any sports fan or someone interested in DiMaggio.
Rating:
Summary: DiMaggio uncovered
Review: Be forewarned: If you are a DiMaggio fan, you will likely hate this book or, at least you'll despise Richard Ben Cramer. Cramer writes with a wonderful, personal style, a sense of being there that tests credulity, as he fleshes out conversations and events from sixty or seventy years ago, without the assistance of the primary subject. This lack of cooperation from DiMaggio is both the strength and the weakness of the book.Baseball in the late 1930's had truly wonderful moments, in a era when it was the national pasttime, when trains preceded airplanes, radio preceded television, and World Series winnings could double or triple a player's annual salary. DiMaggio arrived at the time Ruth exited and Joe was there to see the end of Gehrig's career. Cramer introduces Joe in 1930 and richly catalogs the rapid ascent from North Beach to New York. Cramer almost sounds a bit mean-spirited, to use a term overused by Democrats today. But Cramer is not one to sugar coat. And DiMaggio could be mean. Joe DiMaggio was a little-educated son of an immigrant who had greatness thrust upon him. Sure, he wanted it, but he wanted fame on his own terms. And that is not the deal the devil makes when he gives the athletic skills, the New York stage, and the Hollywood starlet-filled life that the Yankee Clipper received. You can simultaneously admire and feel sorry for DiMaggio. DiMaggio had his selfishness, his conceits, his self-imagined slights. But could he play ball! Enjoy the life story of a great athlete.
Rating: 
Summary: Hey Cramer---what'd Joe ever do to you?
Review: This man had no business writing a ''biography'' of someone he obviously hated so much. And I use the word ''biography'' loosely. Cramer wrote as fact what he couldn't possibly know---like what Mr. DiMaggio was thinking, for example---and of course wrote it in a negative light. Make no mistake folks, this is a GLARINGLY FICTIONALIZED biography. I can't believe it was excerpted in Newsweek. It should have been in Weekly World News next to the alien who gave birth to his own twin.
Rating:
Summary: As Yogi Would Say, You Don't Look So Hot Yourself
Review: I suspect most readers began this book because they're tremendous baseball fans and had heard some buzz about a book about one of the greatest ballplayers of all time, and became disillusioned over the details of his personal life after finishing it. What a swing! I never left ESPN during the week of his passing just to watch him swat that ball with that perfect, sublime swing. Even the way he dropped the bat and took off running had grace. In the book, he came out looking stingy in his dealings with promoters. But the book also portrays him taking out younger players, however infrequently, and feeling almost insulted if the upstart took out money to pay for the meal. "If you go out with the Dago, the Dago pays." The author writes more than we need to know--more, probably, than HE would know--about their, uhmm, pre-coital stance, utilizing the device of reading the mind of the main character. It is, to MY way of thinking, a thoroughly discredited device. One expects this in fiction, not a biography. Oddly, I believe that had Marilyn Monroe (and I had no illusions about HER personal life) lived to marry him the second time, as they were in the process of carrying out, she might have softened Joe just a little, made him more accessible to the public. Finally, only an author like Mark Twain should get away with having a cat and a cigar in the same photo.
Rating:
Summary: If you're a Yankee fan from way back...
Review: If you worship at the altar of the Yankees and all their glory, you'll hate this book. If you really believe that any darn ballplayer making millions, idolized by millions, can be a saint, you'll hate this book. If you think Joe DiMaggio was an elegant, graceful man, a man who represented all that was right with this country before, well, before it all started to go to heck, you'll hate this book. But if you heard all those quiet rumors about DiMaggio - demanding to be introduced as "the greatest living ballplayer" wherever he went, the money made from the card shows, the drinking alone in San Francisco bars - and you're curious about what the real DiMaggio was like, you'll love this book. The real DiMaggio enjoyed the worship, but didn't trust anyone, no one. He had pride, all right, fierce pride that caused him to forever turn his back on his closest friends without a word of explanation. The real DiMaggio was a cheap son-of-a-gun who stashed money under his mattress, never paid for anything, because he was the great Joe DiMaggio. The real DiMaggio drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney, fooled around like a tomcat. He was mean, petty, full of rage, hated his contemporaries (Ted Williams! He called Ted Williams a "meathead"!), hated anything not to do with him and his life. But the real DiMaggio was a hero, too. Boy, could he tattoo the ball. Since reading the book, I've dug up old footage of him hitting, and he has a sweet swing like you've never seen. The follow through! So elegant! All his energy - wham! - an explosion! But smooth. So smooth, you can't compare it, no one's got a swing like that. And he wanted to win. He carried his team. When DiMaggio was hot, the Yanks were hot. Nine World Series titles in 11 years. A 56-game hitting streak, an effort so phenomenal that Stephan Jay Gould claims it's the only feat of athleticism where human willpower rose above the laws of physics. And his fame created the mean, petty, penny-pinching, lecherous drunk. We did it to him. We idolized him, we followed him around, we asked him for his autograph, we bought him dinner, fer goodnessakes, it's Joe DiMaggio! Whaddya do? Let him pay for his own meal? We rose him above us. We elevated him to the status of a god. Immortals don't act according to earthly morals. Cramer catches the man clearly. Some critics have accused Cramer of ripping DiMaggio, of fabricating DiMaggio's feelings and thoughts and emotions. These critics bristle at Cramer's style of biography, this new style of inhabiting the subject's mind and writing a dialog for all to read. After all, how can you really tell what a guy was thinking? I admit Cramer goes overboard. For one, he's obviously obsessed with Marilyn Monroe. I mean, the guy literally hops into bed with her. Check this passage out: "...and there she was, his girl, so pale, past vanilla, it was white in her young skin - dairy milk - and perfect, tiny-boned, delicate, like a twelve-year-old virgin, childlike as her giggle when he grabbed her..." What the heck? Cramer goes way overboard like this mainly with Monroe. The guy describes her naked like a half dozen times in the book, lovingly follows her around even when DiMaggio was out of the scene. But Cramer believes, and depicts here, that Monroe was Joe's greatest emotional influence. Joe was crazy about Monroe. Joe was devastated when she died - they were supposed to remarry in a few weeks. She was the only other person who could understand what it was like to be as famous as Joe DiMaggio. So Cramer violates the traditional constraints of biography. So he sullies the image of a Great American Icon a tad, muddies his shoes. So what if Cramer looks like a total loser on the back cover of his book? He sparks interest in the Yankee Clipper. After all, if this lifelong Boston Red Sox fan suddenly starts looking up old DiMaggio footage just to see his swing, checks out the stats from his teams in the `30s and `40s, and takes an interest in the man because of this book, then it must be a worthwhile event and a work that honors the man that was DiMaggio.
Rating:
Summary: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Review: In "Joe DiMaggio : The Hero's Life" by Richard Ben Cramer we find a book filled with information on one of America's most beloved heros--Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio has always fascinated me. I am too young to have seen him play, but my father met him when Joe was doing a USO tour in Vietnam in the late 60's. Dad sent me an autographed picture which still hangs on my wall (along with those baseball legends Milt Pappas, Mudcat Grant and Ron Swoboda). Since then, I've always been interested in the life of DiMaggio. Read through the reviews, and you'll see EVERYTHING about this book. Some loved it, some hated it. Some loved Joe, some hated him. Is Cramer's account accurate? There's really only one person who would know, and Joe's gone now. Despite reviews to the contrary, the book is certainly well written. It's entertaining, and exciting to read. That's what a lot of people buy a book for--entertainment and excitement. Others buy biographies for the "real story". Personally, I think we got it here. Others may disagree. Cramer has his sources, quoting those who were closest to Joe when he played, and after he retired. I don't believe that Cramer just made this stuff up. he did his research as evidenced in his writing. If Cramer pops the bubble on a baseball legend, exposing him as a greedy and selfish man, then so be it. If you don't want to read of a greedy and selfish Joe, then don't buy this book. If you want insight and a different perspective, then by all means, read it. Hmmmm. A greedy and selfish professional baseball player. Just why is that so difficult to imagine? Joe was without doubt, a great ball player. He was also a human being, and as such, he was not perfect. Cramer's book will show you those perfect moments on the field, as well as those imperfect moments off the field. It's interesting, entertaining, and informative. In my eyes, that makes for a pretty decent read...
Rating:
Summary: Fact v. Fiction
Review: While The Hero's Life is an excellent book about one of the three best baseball players who have ever lived, you have to wonder how much is true. Mr Cramer does list many sources and is wonderful at telling the story of Joe DiMaggio's life. DiMaggio kept the people whom he did not want in his life out and probably for good reason. The question does linger however that since he is basing most of the book on second hand information how much is true. An excellent book that was hard to put down I have recomended it many people. Having never seen Joe DiMaggio play and him seemingly in secrecy for most of his life I found him to be an "interesting" person. He was, is and should always be an American Icon; bringing a country that was embattled in war together for a brief point in history. If you dont know anything about Joe DiMaggio but would like to, this book is a must.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Richard Ben Cramer has written an informative, interesting, and well balanced account of one of the most interesting characters of the 20th Century. The reader will be riveted from page to page as the story of the Yankee Clipper unfolds. The research and attention to detail in this book are awesome. The author tells a side of DiMaggio that many are reading for the first time. This is a must read for baseball fans, especially New York Yankee followers. It would make a great motion picture project if handled by the right people.
Rating:
Summary: Joe is God spelled backward
Review: I finished this book at 2 a.m. last night. It is a penetrating page-turner with a cinematic scope and a shake you by the collar immediacy. It is not, on the other hand, a hatchet job. Joe was an incredible player, maybe the best to ever live, but he was just a baseball player. That is all. Just a man. And the public used him and he, in turn, used the public. Quid pro quo. If the fact that we need heroes and that people in turn give their lives to walk as gods among us doesn't bother anyone then you aren't paying attention. For the record, Cramer does list his sources--he's got six pages of sources.
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