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Wait Till Next Year  By  cover art

Wait Till Next Year

By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
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Publisher's summary

Wait Till Next Yearis the story of a young girl growing up in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s, when owning a single-family home on a tree-lined street meant the realization of dreams, when everyone knew everyone else on the block, and the children gathered in the streets to play from sunup to sundown. The neighborhood was equally divided among Dodger, Giant, and Yankee fans, and the corner stores were the scenes of fierce and affectionate rivalries.

The narrative begins in 1949 at the dawn of a glorious era in baseball, an era that saw one of the three New York teams competing in the World Series every year, and era when the lineups on most teams remained basically intact year after year, allowing fans to extend loyalty and love to their chosen teams, knowing that for the most part, their favorite players would return the following year, exhibiting their familiar strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and habits. Never would there be a better time to be a Brooklyn Dodger fan.

But in 1957 it all came to an abrupt end when the Dodgers (and the Giants) were forcibly uprooted from New York and transplanted to California. Shortly after the Dodgers left, Kearns' mother died, and the family moved from the old neighborhood to an apartment on the other side of town. This move coincided with the move of several other families on the block and with the decline of the corner store as the supermarket began to take over. It was the end of an era and the beginning of another - and for Kearns, the end of childhood.

©1997 Doris Kearns Goodwin (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Ms. Goodwin has... made familiar events seem fresh again, as if they were happening for the first time only a couple of days ago." (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times)
"Lively, tender, and... hilarious... [Goodwin's] memoir is uplifting evidence that the American dream still exists - not so much in the content of the dream as in the tireless, daunting dreaming." (Jodi Daynard, The Boston Globe)
"A poignant memoir.. .marvelous... Goodwin shifts gracefully between a child's recollection and a adult's overview." (Peter Delacorte, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review)

What listeners say about Wait Till Next Year

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    3 out of 5 stars

An Easy Too Read Memoir

Goodwin is one of my favorite historians. She is a superb writer and meticulous researcher. This book is her memoir about growing up in the 1950s and her love of baseball. I found her descriptions of growing up on Long Island idealistic. It was safe, simple and a comfortable life. It was the exact opposite of my life; therefore, I found it fascinating that someone actually grew up in such an ideal way. I found the memoir interesting and helpful in understanding her interest in history.

The book is eight hours. Susanne Toren does an excellent job narrating the book. Toren is an actress and long-time audiobook narrator. She has won many awards such as Earphone Awards and Audie nominations. She also was awarded The American Foundation for the Blind’s Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year in 1988. The Audiofile Magazine named her Best Voice in Nonfiction and Culture in 2009.

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9 people found this helpful

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Reliving my own past

I may be prejudiced, but I absolutely LOVED this book. It reminded me so much of my own childhood. I was born in the same year as the author. Like her, I grew up in a suburb of New York city a huge baseball fan. Her memories of playing in the neighborhood mirror my own. And although we are of different religions and rooted for different teams, it doesn't matter. We still have so much in common that it was like reliving my own past.

The reader was very good, but I really would have preferred that the book be read by the author herself. Somehow I think it would have brought even more to the story. Nonetheless, if you were a child of the 50s, you're going to enjoy this book tremendously.

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9 people found this helpful

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First DKG Book

I am not a baseball fan, nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed her memoir of growing up in the 1950's New York. I am a history buff, so the history of the Dodgers and the decade were enjoyable. She is an excellent storyteller. Will start her history bios.

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Just What the 2020 Baseball Season Needs!

Admittedly, I came to this book as a fan of both baseball (notably the Boston Red Sox) and Doris Kearns Goodwin. I was not disappointed! The telling brought glorious baseball alive and provided a satisfying direct link between her love of scoring baseball games & her meticulous researching & very human depiction of American history. A resounding home run hit in all ball parks!

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A great Book for everyone, especially baseball fans on the 40’s and 50’s. Thank you Mrs. Goodwin!

I had a rare chance to relive my childhood: baseball tragedies, air raid drills and McCarthy. Wonderful book.

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Great to learn about DKG

Great to learn about this brilliant historian and authors youth and background. She is a contemporary raised in another part of county but similarities - fasinating - we could have been friends.
LOVED her fallout shelter plan!!!!!

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Baseball at it's best.

A warm and nostalgic memoir that captures the love of baseball, family, and the end of an era. Doris Kearns Goodwin moves eloquently between her childhood recollections and a historian’s perspective to weave an exceptional read. Take me out to the ballgame!

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1 person found this helpful

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Loved this!

Doris' book has given me the inspiration to record my own childhood memories. thank-you!

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the story of her childhood

great book, took you to another place and time. helped me understand yhe culture of middle class america in the 1950's.

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Stroll down memory lane

Doris Kearns Goodwin applies her interesting story-telling skills to the hardest subject of all- her own life. The title is wonderful, as her love for baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers plays a major roll in the story. This is a warm look into American society, particularly from the point of view of a child in Brooklyn, that takes in the end of the Second World War, the Cold War, and the McCarthy era. It gives insight into a loving family, and living with heart disease. I’m glad I listened to it, and recommend it to those interested in history and biography.

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