<div dir="ltr"><div>All, <br></div><div>Please find below and attached Jack Ryan's review of David Naze, <i>Reclaiming 42: Public Memory and the Reframing of Robinson's Radical Legacy</i>.</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-GB">Naze, David. </span><i><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Reclaiming
42: Public Memory and the Reframing of Robinson’s Radical Legacy</span></i><i><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-GB">. </span></i><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-GB">Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 212 pp.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-GB">Reviewed by Jack
Ryan</span><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">2019
marked the centennial of Jackie Robinson’s birth, and <i>Reclaiming 42: <span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Public Memory and the Reframing of Robinson’s Radical
Legacy,</span></i><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> written by David Naze, is a
reminder that Robinson’s accomplishments should be reexamined. Naze, an
academic administrator trained in rhetorical studies, uses Robinson’s writing,
articles written about Robinson, two museums that prominently feature Robinson,
and Major League Baseball’s “Jackie Robinson Day” as the essential texts for
his rhetorical, theoretical lens.<span> </span>Naze
believes that American culture failed to recognize Robinson’s “political voice”
both while he was a player and after his career ended. Using Ken Burns’s take
on Robinson in his documentary <i>Jackie
Robinson</i> (2016) as his foundation, Naze contrasts the hegemonic version of
Robinson with the man Martin Luther King once described as “a sit-inner before
sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.” <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span>Prominent among Naze’s criticisms is a
general lack of knowledge of “Robinson’s critique of the state of race
relations in America” in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee
(27). Robinson was meant to contrast dissenting remarks made by Paul Robeson at
a left-wing conference in Paris, France. Robinson did not agree with Robeson’s
Communist views, but he did admire his belief in social justice. As Naze maps
it, Robinson’s testimony, which he describes as a dissent from the political
status quo, was misinterpreted in most news accounts. Rather than speaking against
Robeson, Robinson warned the congressional committee that the greatest threat
to America was its failure to live up to the opportunities offered by the
Constitution of the United States. This rhetorical move is essential to Naze’s
thesis. Oddly, in his book’s introduction, Naze states that Robinson's
testimony occurred in 1947 (27) when the appropriate date was July 18, 1947.
While Naze’s approach to interpreting Robinson’s words and image complicates
his subject, he also tends to over theorize his subject and repeats information,
which creates confusion at times. For example, on page thirty-six Naze provides
the “four primary themes” that make up his first chapter; on page forty-seven,
he repeats these themes: “the battle over legitimacy, the battle over agency,
the battle over the mainstream, and the battle over coalition building.” At
times, this valuable book reads like a dissertation.<span> </span><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span>Still, Robinson is an ideal subject
for the intersection of sports and politics, which the Robinson-Robeson history
highlights. Robinson himself, according to Naze, was a political figure who
also was successful as a baseball player. Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s
daughter, writing in defense of the “Jackie Robinson Project,” housed at George
Washington University but now facing lack of budgetary support, summarized her
father’s values and commitment: “courage, determination, teamwork, persistence,
integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence…. a fighter for
integration, civil rights, and fair play for all” (Zirin). Naze’s work
illustrates how Robinson publicly displayed these values, and how his legacy
has been commodified in both successful and questionable ways.<span> </span>Naze’s introduction contains a rather lengthy
chapter outline, a guide for readers who might want to sample select chapters,
such as Naze’s cultural and rhetorical analysis of the National Baseball Hall
of Fame and Museum, in Cooperstown, New York, and the Negro Leagues Baseball
Museum, in Kansas City, Missouri, one of the strongest portions of <i>Reclaiming 42</i>.<span> </span><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span>Overall, the book contains four
chapters and a conclusion, each an inventory of an aspect of Robinson’s legacy.
Each chapter is designed to complicate Robinson’s history by contrasting
popular assumptions with evidence from his writing and speaking life. As a
professional athlete, Robinson spent his entire career with the Brooklyn
Dodgers, leading the team to six pennants and one World Series victory. In 1962
he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The narrative of Robinson’s
breaking the Major League color barrier is legendary. After he retired from the
game, he did not remain in Major League Baseball as a coach, manager, or
executive. Rather, his name was attached to a variety of businesses: a
construction company and a bank. The bank was meant to combat the persistence
of redlining. Both businesses failed. According to Peter Drier, these business
failures “dimmed Robinson’s confidence in black capitalism as a strategy for
racial advancement and integration.” Robinson remained in the public eye. As
Naze notes, he supported political figures, argued with political figures, and
supported athletes, including John Carlos and Tommie Smith; he also testified
in federal court in support of Curt Flood’s challenge to baseball’s reserve
clause.<span> </span>Robinson’s legacy, away from the
baseball field, demonstrates his unrelenting willingness to help others,
especially African Americans.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span>Yet, as Naze alludes to, by the time
of his death of a heart attack at age fifty-three, Robinson was almost a
forgotten man. He designed a self-imposed boycott of professional baseball
because of its poor record in hiring minority candidates for managerial and
executive positions. In 1972, nine days before his death, Robinson broke his
boycott and attended the second game of the World Series. He threw out the
first pitch and voiced his displeasure over the lack of representation in Major
League Baseball: “I’d like to live to see a black manager, I’d like to live to
see the day when there’s a black man coaching third base” (Naze 154). However,
according to Naze, Robinson’s radical voice faded but his symbolic significance
would be revived in 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of his trailblazing year;
this, according to Naze, illustrates how Robinson has been commodified and
revised by baseball’s embrace of his image but not the man himself.<span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:200%;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:200%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span>Robinson’s biography is massive,
complex. Utilizing a rhetorical, theoretical lens and keeping a tight focus on
specific areas of Robinson’s history, both when he was alive and after his
death, Naze has produced a compelling book that examines how the past influences
the present and also how memories can be reconstructed to fit present needs.
While his case study approach makes the reading experience a bit pedantic, <i>Reclaiming 42</i> makes a compelling
argument in favor of Robinson’s complete legacy: “his words, thoughts, and
leadership are not to be carved in stone but rather provided as an opportunity
to discuss, converse, protest, and deliberate the implications of today’s
racial landscape not just in baseball but in society on a larger scale” (187).
Naze’s concluding note sounds the need for looking at Robinson as more than a
mythic figure, rather he asks that every aspect of Robinson’s life be evaluated
in the broader context of the moment of history in which he lived and what his
thinking then means to us today. <span></span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Burns, Ken, <i>Jackie
Robinson</i> (2016). PBS. Online: <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fkenburns%2Fjackie-robinson%2Fabout-the-film&data=02%7C01%7Csport_literature_association%40lists.ku.edu%7C3a89d984158d45343a3f08d7a2744d83%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637156492875434553&sdata=cegjvb5LDuTrqIrq%2BBhEDBoX%2F8NOejDhxt%2BdeRiKCis%3D&reserved=0" originalSrc="https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/jackie-robinson/about-the-film" shash="BdG7UmZ6vLurol0XdA83a+JWhwNUd4/Uk+1a5mfBvc5PmQ7SusYyjcmgHxWDECpCn+pJdoTD6D1rOuRTUbXnlpk+g0f/EPQvvjU0tOVx5c9a0mHAHVWJi04JjlcPg04kIdWQQdXl0FtXzax3BZqL0AsUqtH5TmSu2LtHpOijBCk=" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-US">https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/jackie-robinson/about-the-film</span></a></span><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span class="gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Dreier, Peter. “Half a Century Before Colin
Kaepernick, Jackie Robinson Said, <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">‘I Cannot Stand
and Sing the Anthem.’” 18 July 2019. Online: </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenation.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7Csport_literature_association%40lists.ku.edu%7C3a89d984158d45343a3f08d7a2744d83%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637156492875444553&sdata=WDrX%2FVvz8REpOy1ajyIC06ASEzl4oDPr9Nz7o2qovcA%3D&reserved=0" originalSrc="http://www.thenation.com/" shash="WEL95TAoo1Sr9kZfaApSuPAf5vhroxS86OjQ4C7zigUJCNEXmn7EQs+shJYp8Ts1y/T7Idaoc/fkYnWUtjwLQwlwZltfBJnAOx8nIoS+vgYg8PX7tfVt4VMCvJvxwtWxL/et/0mg8dbcTKoiNNOuOedXm84GTF90UD7Y9tqxMKg=" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-US">http://www.thenation.com</span></a></span><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Zirin, Dave. “Whither the Jackie Robinson Project?” <i>The Nation</i>.<span> </span>24 September <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">2019. Online: </span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenation.com%2Farticle%2Fwhither-the-jackie-robinson-project%2F&data=02%7C01%7Csport_literature_association%40lists.ku.edu%7C3a89d984158d45343a3f08d7a2744d83%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637156492875444553&sdata=mlndzjPjCYaT4Q%2B6K8zTpt85mWpAmn6JAqGds9Y9yMQ%3D&reserved=0" originalSrc="https://www.thenation.com/article/whither-the-jackie-robinson-project/" shash="M/cnUOvo8OTUn8YoB8iepdqqWGMgQx/WYnrKGGgKa6N+m04IJoGiiWYjGKuoF+/WuEXSYlsi3udR1hjuqFDegJsBqddFEhH4C9+CZ06syi9k1/7JQ69eZ4QMeWzaPbpgybjUWQX2p4mnS0+VPNe/nX4c8t7FCIOEViI9ZfJCcsc=" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration:underline"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN-US">https://www.thenation.com/article/whither-the-jackie-robinson-project/</span></a></span><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
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</div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br><br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div>