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Overview
Henry Wiggen, hero of The Southpaw and the best-known fictional baseball player in America, is back again, throwing a baseball “with his arm and his brain and his memory and his bluff for the sake of his pocket and his family.” More than a novel about baseball, Bang the Drum Slowly is about the friendship and the lives of a group of men as they each learn that a teammate is dying of cancer. Bang the Drum Slowly was chosen as one of the top one hundred sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated and appears on numerous other lists of best baseball fiction. In the introduction to this new Bison Books edition Mark Harris discusses the making of the classic 1973 film starring Robert DeNiro, based on his screen adaptation of the book. Also available in Bison Books editions are The Southpaw, It Looked Like For Ever.Synopsis
Henry Wiggin, Harri's major league southpaw, narrates the story of the last season of a teammate and of the tragic knowledge which the team must share. Acclaimed as one of the finest baseball novels. Adapted as a film with Michael Moriarty, Robert DeNiro, Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello in his debut.
Boston Herald
There's no denying the humor and power of the work, nor the audience's three-hankie response...a fascinating textural portrait of our national image.
Editorials
New York Times
“Bang the Drum Slowly makes wonderful reading—whether one hates baseball or loves it. . . . It is awfully funny in parts, and laughter is rare enough on anybody’s bookshelf.”—New York TimesTime
“What makes Bang the Drum Slowly unique . . . is author Harris’s mastery of his offbeat scene. . . . The talk is natural, larded with casual humor, and earthiness. . . . Harris has measured [his characters] with his heart as well as his eye and ear.”—TimeTime
"What makes Bang the Drum Slowly unique . . . is Author Harris'' mastery of his offbeat scene. . . . The talk is natural, larded with casual humor, earthiness and more than a touch of locker-room obscenity. . . . Harris has measured [the dimensions of his characters] with his heart as well as his eye and ear."—Time
New York Times
"Bang the Drum Slowly makes wonderful reading—whether one hates baseball or loves it. . . . It is awfully funny in parts, and laughter is rare enough on anybody''s bookshelf."—New York Times