Reviews for Veränderungen im Menschenbild

The average rating for Veränderungen im Menschenbild based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-24 00:00:00 Sharon Craig Pretty scattered memoir and loose Red Sox history. Definitely doesn't live up to the hype on the back cover - sorry George V. Higgins, this book does not prove you to be a "writer of genius" or "a master". The author was a Boston newspaper writer, covering crime and occasionally sports. His crime and trial work led to his mystery novels, the sports led indirectly to this book. I say indirectly because his upbringing had a lot to do with this also - both his father and grandfather were Red Sox fans. This book was very scattered, and while the first chapter and last had a sort of "theme", the rest seemed to be plunked in after 20 or so pages. Stories of the authors life (often with father and/or grandfather) mixed with Red Sox history (especially the 80s, though earlier eras were also in attendance) and very rough statistical analysis. Chapters had some or all of those, with no particular order or conclusion. Jim Rice receives a fair amount of complaints. Unlabeled black and white pictures crop up occasionally - if you are lucky, you also get a uniform number. For most people, this book would probably rate one star (did not like). The Red Sox of the 70s and 80s were the teams I followed most closely, and that aspect of this book was a good fit for this reader. There were bits of good writing also - I liked the comparison of Red Sox to Wilder's Our Town (see the subtitle), and the loving descriptions of Fenway Park. I'll probably check out one of his crime novels - it is said he inspired Elmore Leonard.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-07-19 00:00:00 Melissa Godley Higgins turns away from gritty crime novels to reflect on his childhood, his family, particularly his father and his father's father, and their difficult relationship with the Boston Red Sox. Higgins makes it clear that his fandom is a thing inherited from his father and grandfather much in the same way one might inherit red hair or nearsightedness. It's not necessarily a blessing, but he wears it. Written some time after the conclusion of the strange 1988 season, where a 89-73 record was just enough to clinch the AL East allowing the Sox the dubious privilege of being swept in the American League Championship Series to the Oakland A's. These aren't the Red Sox who have spoiled younger fans; these are the Red Sox who regularly disappointed large swatches of New England on an annual basis. He's got quite a bit to say about the decision of skipper John McNamara (sacked mid-season) to allow a fading Jim Rice to continue batting clean-up, some unjust (in my mind) criticism of Wade Boggs (chiding him for concentrating on his batting average rather than pulling the ball for extra base hits), and lamentations re the Sox's ongoing pitching struggles. He has a good deal to say of Ted Williams and the contending Sox teams of the late 40s, the early awful 60s Sox who somehow came together in '67 for the Impossible Dream, the magic of Game Six of the '75 series, and other near great to disappointing Red Sox sides. Higgins also offers thoughtful commentary on the changing nature of the game (a common topic in nearly every baseball book ever written), some interesting observations on sabermetrics, a branch of statistics just beginning to enter the mainstream at the time of the book's writing, and the nature of fathers and sons. Higgins is a skilled writer. The book is a bit indulgent, but it's interesting to read him in this type of genre.