October 1964

By: David Halberstam

Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto

Length: 13 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The New York Times best-seller.

David Halberstam, an avid sports writer with an investigative reporter’s tenacity, superbly details the end of the 15-year reign of the New York Yankees in October 1964. That October found the Yankees going head-to-head with the St. Louis Cardinals for the World Series pennant.

Expertly weaving the narrative threads of both teams’ seasons, Halberstam brings the major personalities on the field - from switch-hitter Mickey Mantle to pitcher Bob Gibson - to life. Using the teams’ subcultures, Halberstam also analyzes the cultural shifts of the '60s. The result is a unique blend of sports writing and cultural history as engrossing as it is insightful.

"Compelling.... 1964 is a chronicle of the end of a great dynasty and of a game, like the country, on the cusp of enormous change." (Newsweek)

"Wonderful.... Memorable.... Halberstam describes the final game of the 1964 series accurately and so dramatically, I almost thought I had forgotten the ending." (The Washington Post Book World)

©1994 The Amateurs Limited (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"October 1964 should be a hit with old-time baseball fans, who'll relish the opportunity to relive that year's to-die-for World Series, when the dynastic but aging New York Yankees squared off against the upstart St. Louis Cardinals. It should be a hit with younger students of the game, who'll eat up the vivid portrayals of legends like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris of the Yankees and Bob Gibson and Lou Brock of the Cardinals. Most of all, however, David Halberstam's new book should be a hit with anyone interested in understanding the important interplay between sports and society." (The Boston Globe)

"Halberstam's latest gives us the feeling of actually being there - in another time, in the locker rooms and in the minds of baseball legends. His time and effort researching the book result in a fluency with his topic and a fluidity of writing that make the reading almost effortless.... Absorbing." (San Francisco Chronicle)

"Superb reporting.... Incisive analysis.... You know from the start that Halberstam is going to focus on a large human canvas.... One of the many joys of this book is the humanity with which Halberstam explores the characters as well as the talents of the players, coaches and managers. These are not demigods of summer but flawed, believable human beings who on occasion can rise to peaks of heroism." (Chicago Sun-Times)