{"product_id":"pastime-lost-9781496208514","title":"Pastime Lost","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUnearths baseball's buried history and brings it back to life, illustrating how English baseball was embraced by all sectors of English society and exploring some of the personalities, such as Jane Austen and King George III, who played the game in their childhoods.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003ePastime Lost\u003c\/i\u003e is required reading for anyone interested in learning more about the early origins of baseball.\"—Jason Cannon, \u003ci\u003eNINE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003ePastime Lost\u003c\/i\u003e] will entertain and enlighten baseball aficionados and any who are fascinated by bat and ball games.\"—D. R. Bisson, \u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Block] takes the reader on his journey to find out about English baseball with some self-deprecating humor and other wit along the way. This makes for an excellent combination of information and entertainment that is sure to please any reader.\"—Lance Smith, \u003ci\u003eGuy Who Reviews Sports Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In the new book \u003ci\u003ePastime Lost\u003c\/i\u003e, David Block unearths baseball's buried history and brings it back to life. He illustrates how English baseball was embraced by all sectors of English society, while exploring some of the personalities, such as Jane Austen and King George III, who played the game in their childhoods. . . . One of the best baseball books, as well as world history works, you will ever read.\"—Jason Schott, brooklynfans.com\u003cbr\u003e\"How did it come about that the modest English origins of baseball were lost track of over time? Origin stories are always subject to manipulation as well as to the shifting vicissitudes of time; consider received opinion about the origin of the United States, the founders, and so on (both the canonical story in its idealized form and its double, the anti-canonical version). Praise God for mildly fanatical historians like David Block, whether of the professional or the amateur variety. And thanks as well to the University of Nebraska Press, publisher over the years of so many books of baseball history.\"—John Wilson, \u003ci\u003eFirst Things\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"P\u003ci\u003eastime Lost \u003c\/i\u003eis written by an in every way outstanding baseball scholar, and I find it hard to see that someone should be able to exceed the contribution that David Block had added to its history.\"—Isak Lidström, idrottsforum.org\u003cbr\u003e“Pastime lost, and regained! There is now joy in Nerdville, for David Block has unearthed the true ancestor of America’s national pastime—happily named Baseball and not Rounders. If you believe, as I do, that all great institutions are most interesting in their murky beginnings, you must read this awesome, indispensable book.”—John Thorn, official historian of Major League Baseball\u003cbr\u003e“David Block jolts our apple-pie and hot-dog psyches by revealing baseball’s English origins. With a whimsical touch, he takes us through musty newspaper clips, the Royal archives, eighteenth-century letters, and the occasional pub and castle. Bringing the characters of the game’s past alive, his joyous work is a gift to anyone who loves baseball.”—Selena Roberts, the best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eA-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e 1. A Little Pretty Debut\u003cbr\u003e 2. The Sporting Prince\u003cbr\u003e 3. Two Weeks, Two Discoveries\u003cbr\u003e 4. Word Perfect\u003cbr\u003e 5. Wild Geese and Red Herrings\u003cbr\u003e 6. Ball, Bat, and Beyond\u003cbr\u003e 7. Austen’s Aura\u003cbr\u003e 8. Science and Letters\u003cbr\u003e 9. Ladies First\u003cbr\u003e 10. The Numbers Game\u003cbr\u003e 11. A Class Act\u003cbr\u003e 12. Literary Allusions\u003cbr\u003e 13. Glorified Rounders of Antiquity\u003cbr\u003e 14. Summertime Treat\u003cbr\u003e 15. People’s Pastime\u003cbr\u003e 16. Rules Don’t Apply\u003cbr\u003e 17. The Old Ba’ Game\u003cbr\u003e 18. Strange Diversions\u003cbr\u003e 19. The Third Baseball\u003cbr\u003e 20. Mottos Are Made to Be Broken\u003cbr\u003e 21. When Games Collide\u003cbr\u003e 22. Pastime Lost\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409223098711,"sku":"9781496208514","price":22.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781496208514.jpg?v=1730506019","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/pastime-lost-9781496208514","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}