The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood, by Jane Leavy (Harper Perennial)

In Sandy Koufax (2002), Leavy alternated an inning-by-inning account of that great pitcher's perfect game in 1965 with a deeply researched study of his life. The Last Boy is an episodic tour of Mantle's athletic achievements - three MVP awards, the triple crown in 1956 - and his physical and emotional traumas.

"Leavy comes as close as perhaps anyone ever has to answering 'What makes Mantle Mantle?,"' Keith Olbermann writes in the Book Review.

"She transcends the familiarity of the subject, cuts through both the hero worship and the backlash of pedestal-wrecking in the late 20th century."

China Daily-New York Times