This is a good book. Social history at its finest. Readable history that reads like narrative fiction at parts. The story of WWI and its impact on Boston and in particular three people, a war hero and member of the famous Lost Battalion, a composer of German heritages interred in a camp in Georgia, and Babe Ruth is really interesting. The perspectives on the War’s impact on these three completely different people is fascinating. The Spanish Flu and its effect on society in addition to the War is also examined and has particular relevance to today. Highly recommended.

A book that takes you back in time with America entering World War One. The author is focusing on Boston taking a look at three people from that city. One everyone has heard about Babe Ruth. He goes into his background and then his arrival to the Red Sox. How he started out as a pitcher and the games he won in the regular season as well as in the World Series. He also gets into his wanting to become a full-time player, not just a pitcher, he also goes into the home runs he started to hit and how they began to change the game. He follows Ruth and the owner of the Red Sox all the way up to when he is sold to the Yankees, he takes you through the war years for baseball and the attendance problems that they were having this all was very interesting.
Next, you have a German conductor who led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, his name was Karl Muck. He was accused of being a German spy. Here in this story, you see how the press really tainted people’s opinions especially if you had a German-sounding name. he goes to show you the people that were born here not all of them were German descent but were still threatened, sometimes killed by citizens, loss of their homes and jobs. It does not shine a pleasant light on the newspaper people or the government, but we already knew that. Mr. Muck would be tried in the newspapers before even going to a so-called hearing and even by then he was already guilty. Had to serve his time in a camp with others in Arkansas and then was deported after the war. Sorry to say that before the war he was chosen by the board of the Boston Symphony to take over their almost nonexistent program and turned into a World-class one, yet all but one would turn on him, a shame.
Last you are told the story of Charles Whittlesey who as a major would lead his men into an area in the Argonne Forest after being told he would have support on both flanks. That would be no. this would become in the papers as the Lost Platoon. They were from the 77th Division which would also fight some hair-raising battles against the Japanese in World War Two. Most people have not heard about this story anymore, I don’t think it is taught in history classes. This was a time when Generals told subordinates what to do and if it was not done or accomplish they would be replaced, of course sometimes the officer would be sent back to America and his career would be over, of course, you were friends with General Pershing for there were some he did not do this to. Here Whittlesey tells his commander that they will lose a lot of men and he is told if he is a coward, I will pick someone else. He, of course, leads his men over the trenches and then into the heart of the German force and they actually hold them off for days, even at one time being shelled by their own troops. A very inspiring story still to this day for me and I have heard it since I was a kid for my grandfather fought in World War One, and I would listen to all of the stories when I was young. Very sad how his story ends though.
The author switches back and forth between the different stories which is good and as you get towards the end; he brings in the Spanish flu and all of the deaths that were caused by that. All very enlightening and a really good book.

This book is a riveting tale of the year 1918 in America, a combination of baseball, military, and political history. We have Karl Muck, the conductor of Boston Symphony Orchestra, who being German was suspected of being a spy for the Kaiser. We have Babe Ruth, a rising baseball superstar in Boston, who captivated a nation during a time of war. And we have Charles Whittlesey, a Harvard Law graduate who wanted to take part in the Great War and ended up an unlikely war hero. The authors weave together the three disparate stories of these men to show the national anti-German hysteria of that era, the societal effects of a deadly influenza pandemic, and the unexpected fame of the Lost Batallion. What comes out is an upclose view of America during the Great War with plenty of compelling narrative.

Karl Muck is a renowned conductor, but has the unfortunate timing of being German in America during WWI. Suspicions of German spies gives way to spreading national anti-German propaganda. This story is shorter than the other two, but goes to highlight how Woodrow Wilson's Espionage Act of 1917 gave way for anti-German inquisition. Muck is accused of refusing to play the Star-Spangled Banner, and that's enough to make him a suspect (along with his friendliness with the Kaiser and his lament of his own life in America).

Babe Ruth's life before he was a New York Yankee was dramatic and intriguing. Discovered by the Baltimore Orioles International League team, he is later sold to the Boston Red Sox. We meet owner Harry Frazee, whom Ruth negotiates his contracts with, and manager Ed Barrow, whom Ruth must petition to for more playing time as a hitter. These were my favorite parts of the book, where I learned more about the 1918 baseball season, about Babe Ruth as an abandoned adolescent and as a member of the Boston Red Sox than I ever knew before. The authors describe his rise in baseball stardom in detail, even going in-depth on his swing and his recordbreaking statistics during the deadball era when not many home runs were hit. There is also plenty of discussion on player-owner relations, as well as the media's portrayal of Ruth and debate on the role of baseball during the war. It's clear that Frazee and Barrow grossly undervalued Ruth when they famously sold him to the Yankees, but this book does an excellent job going into great detail on why that happened.

The story of Major Charles Whittlesey and the Lost Battalion is also told well. There is a great sequence where orders from up top follow down through each man in the chain of command to tell Whittlesey to press forward in attacking the Argonne Forest, despite being at a great disadvantage. But orders are orders, so his soldiers must obey. Their courage and Whittlesey's refusal to surrender are remembered and told over and over long after the war ends. When the former Wall Street lawyer returns home, he comes home to newfound fame, one that his humility is not accustomed to and does not desire.

I've gone back and forth on whether the formula of this book worked well. Much of the book is set in Boston, with both Karl Muck and Babe Ruth, as well as the fallout from the spreading of the Spanish Flu throughout the city and state. Major Whittlesey and the Lost Batallion is a very compelling story, but it mostly happens in the Forest of Argonne on the other side of the Atlantic. And it seemed the book's focus on Ruth and Whittlesey was much larger than on Muck. The baseball history and details were excellent for me, but possibly not for everyone who wants to read this book for its war stories (and vice versa). None of the three stories really collide, other than that they're in the shadow of the Great War. But in the end, I think the narrative and the themes of Muck, Ruth, and Whittlesey in 1918 were all worth telling, and the authors do so with excellent writing. I would highly recommend this book for baseball fans, Bostonians, and WWI history students.

I would like to thank NetGalley for sending over an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

War hero Charles Whittlesey, “villain” conductor Karl Muck, and ballplayer George Ruth all lived in Boston at the start of World War I. Whittlesey led the Lost Battalion, which was neither lost nor a battalion. I hadn’t known many of the specifics of the ordeal his unit experienced; this was highly informative. He truly deserved the Medal of Honor.
German conductor Mack’s imperious manner, unshakable confidence, and friendship with the Kaiser set him up to be vilified by a yellow journalist from the Providence, RI, Journal. He was no danger to the United States. Justice Department agents concluded that. But some refused to let him be. They arrested him on postal charges because of “obscene” letters mailed to his young mistress. The internment of German aliens was as shameful as the WWII internment of Japanese civilians.
Babe Ruth had natural athletic ability honed at the home for delinquent boys where his father dumped him. He was crude, uncouth, and full of swagger. His main interests were baseball, booze, and brothels. Too many ballplayers were slackers, Ruth included, and the owners’ primary concern was their profit.
I could have done without learning about Ruth and his slice of Boston life, but Whittlesey and Muck are well-worth reading. Very enlightening.

4.5/5


‘The stench of putrefying bodies poisoned the air. The Boston newspapers published daily tallies of he deceased. The city morgue couldn’t keep pace with the influx of corpses. Undertakers ran out of coffins.’-WAR FEVER

Pretty scary stuff, right? Especially with the coronavirus going on; I just heard on the radio that the worldwide pandemic death toll has now surpassed the 2002 SARS outbreak. In 1918, the influenza, or the grippe, swept through America, and Boston nearly suffered from ‘4,8000 fatalities. I mention Boston because that’s the main venue for this astonishing read.

Both writers also dig up some other compelling and startling facts from a dark year grounded up from Beantown. Everyone knows that Babe Ruth was a party animal and ferocious at Fenway, but how did influenza affect him. Criminal Woodrow Wilson was dominant when passing the Espionage Act of 1917, and as a result, there was a anti-German inquisition; a time when America was at war with itself.

Just in time for baseball season. Check it out, and thanks, NetGalley.