Rating: 
Summary: Simply, a Complex Tragedy
Review: Eliot Asinof has given us compelling drama in the telling of the "Fixed" World Series of 1919.
He follows the participants day-to-day, moment by moment. Shoeless Joe, Chick Gandil, Buck Weaver, Eddie Cicotte, Lefty Williams, Kid Gleason, Charles Commisky, Ray Schalk, and the gamblers.
Asinof deftly allows readers to come to many of their own conclusions as to what extent the ballplayers themselves went along with the fix. Cicotte and Gandil were certainly guilty, but maybe or maybe not Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe.
Asinof relates the role of newly appointed Baseball Commisioner Landis, and the politics of banning the ballplayers for life.
How guilty was Joe Jackson? What about Buck Weaver? Were there any other ways out of the whole mess without banning the players for life?
If everyone could have it to do over again, they would've done things differently. But, Eight Men Out tells what happened.
Rating:
Summary: read it and weep
Review: a baseball classic. the type of book you want to pick up every few years and read again. the ring lardner scene is too good to be true. it brings to colorful life a whole different era of baseball, one we can scarcely imagine in a time when most players are incredibly overpaid.
Rating: 
Summary: A Quality Novel about a Sour Series
Review: Although not a work of fiction, Asinof establishes the antagonist, or scapegoat, in the fixing of the 1919 World Series as the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Charles Comisky. He blames Comisky and the low wages he provided as the reason the eight sold out on one of the great ballclubs of all-time. Asinof also puts the blame on the gamblers who used the ballplayers as pawns to get rich. But, ultimately participation in the scheme was the final and fatal decision that was made by 8 of the Sox. Some parts of the book, such as the post-trial, are a bit dry, but overall this is an easy-to-read, informative novel. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about such White Sox greats as Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 World Series scandal in which they participated
Rating: 
Summary: It Does Not Get Much Worse Than This!
Review: Although the facts are somewhat basically correct, I strongly suspect that Asinof embellished the truth more than once to please his own sense of history on this subject. Historically speaking, the facts are out in the open and he needn't really have fictionalized them so much. Asinof must have been telling the same stories over and over through the years, with changes to sensationalize, and somehow this has become embedded into his mind as the absolute truth. Nothing could be further from his truth. This book, and the movie are a complete waste of time. Buying this book would do little more than feed creedence to this pack of mistruths. The eight deserved a much better fate than this. It does not get much worse than this. Anthony DeMedeiros, Toronto, Ontario
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC
Review: Easily one of the finest books on baseball history I have read. I saw the movie in the late 1980s and have always been fascinated by the motivations that would prompt the players to risk their careers. Although Asinof does not excuse the players he also puts a lot of blame on Charles Cominsky and other individuals -- not just the gamblers -- who either were aware that something strange was going on or tried to cover it up.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Eight Men Out is both an excellent journalistic/historical account of the events surrounding the "Black Sox" scandal and a very good read. Asinof creates vivid and believable portraits of all of the protagonists while being careful to make clear when he's relating facts supporting by verifiable evidence and when he's offering reasonable but unverifiable inferences or conclusions. Far and away the best and most accessible accumulation of research into the scandal, and one of the better books you'll find anywhere focusing on sports history.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Eight Men Out is both an excellent journalistic/historical account of the events surrounding the "Black Sox" scandal and a very good read. Asinof creates vivid and believable portraits of all of the protagonists while being careful to make clear when he's relating facts supporting by verifiable evidence and when he's offering reasonable but unverifiable inferences or conclusions. Far and away the best and most accessible accumulation of research into the scandal, and one of the better books you'll find anywhere focusing on sports history.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Eight Men Out is both an excellent journalistic/historical account of the events surrounding the "Black Sox" scandal and a very good read. Asinof creates vivid and believable portraits of all of the protagonists while being careful to make clear when he's relating facts supporting by verifiable evidence and when he's offering reasonable but unverifiable inferences or conclusions. Far and away the best and most accessible accumulation of research into the scandal, and one of the better books you'll find anywhere focusing on sports history.
Rating:
Summary: What gets five stars
Review: Eight Men Out is one of the two or three best baseball books ever written. It's a book I reread every five years or so. It's truly great. What I want to know, though, is this -- if you give Eight Men Out five stars, how many stars are you going to give King Lear?
Rating:
Summary: Baseball History and Good Storytelling
Review: Eight Men Out is widely considered one of the better baseball books written. Having recently reread the book, I would concur with this assessment. Asinof's writing and storytelling are excellent, only to be outdone by the thoroughness of his research. Readers are drawn into the culture of 1919 America and the subculture that surrounded (and elevated) baseball in those times. The book offers readers a complete investigation and review of one of baseball's greatest scandals. However, rather than just report facts and findings, Asinof provides a complete and compelling narrative that encompasses all elements of the story. This includes perspectives from the gamblers and players, owners, fans and the baseball hierarchy. Meetings are described, conversations detailed and stories told in such a manner that one might think Asinof was present - not writing nearly fifty years later. The book allows the reader to better understand the prominence of baseball in the American psyche at the time, as well as the damage done to that psyche. This is best exemplified in the myth/legend that Shoeless Joe Jackson has grown into today. Eight Men Out is a must for all baseball fans, but also a thoroughly enjoyable story for any fan of history and Americana. Interestingly, in an era of baseball defined by steroid use and highly paid free agents, many fans often yearn for the older, glory days of the game. Asinof provides a clear and vivid look into some of those glory days. It's far from perfect and a lot darker than the historical blinders may have allowed us to realize. Certainly, the impact of this scandal is still with the game today.
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