Jake G

Just finished “The Cubs Way”.

Good stuff. I think almost every Cub fan will love it, and most baseball fans will enjoy it. It's worth reading just for the in depth accounting of the 2016 playoffs. I forgot just how exciting and stressful that time was. Game 7, OMG.

That said, it's a bit hagiographic and repetitive. Theo Epstein is obviously an organizational, developmental, scouting genius...but you don't have to beat me over the head with it.

Also, the Chapman trade, and the Renteria cut, the monetization of Wrigley and Wrigleyville flies in the face of the Cubs being the “better” - as in good vs. evil - organization that won because of their virtue. The Cubs were just as mercenary as any other organization and always chose what was best for the organization over what was right. Every big free agent signing they achieved was because the Cubs could pay more. There's not anything inherently wrong with that; professional sports is a business, and the business of winning and making money...but I didn't appreciate the constant attempts to mythologize this team.

Three and a half stars.

Never almost cried reading a graphic novel before...

I'm not sure why I only gave this book three stars as I still regularly think about it years later. It's an easy an interesting read. The author illustrates the impossibility of literally living by the Bible's commands as they contradict each other - all Christians pick and choose what biblical text is relevant to them. Still, he's goodhearted and sympathetic and not at all anti-religious. I came away from the book with his term that is closest to my own belief "reverent atheism".

I would definitely recommend this read to believers and atheists alike. Might be the rare work to achieve mutual understanding.

I have no idea why I gave this three stars. This is a monumental work of narrative history telling the story of the Great Migration following the lives of a group of people representative of the mass movement years ago. I've recommended to people who think History doesn't tell their story or isn't interesting. Every American should read it.