This was the longest audio book (20 CDs) I’ve listened too although Ha Jin’s A Free Life (17) was close. I have to admit that when it began with Babe Ruth encountering a couple of Negro (the term used back in 1918) baseball teams I wasn’t sure this was the book for me. Sorry, sports fans:). Well the Babe Ruth parts were fairly short and scattered throughout the book and that was okay. The other two story lines concerned Luther Lawrence, one of the black men who played for one of those teams (a hobby only) and Danny Coughlin, a young Boston Police Dept. cop. This book was so well done, with a very intriguing plot and fantasic characterizations. I really learned alot about 1919-1920 in Boston, the end of WWI, racism, the “Bolsheviki”, who were inspired by the Russian Revolution and a number of other immigrant groups with their own grievances, not to mention the rise of labor unions. Luther and Danny’s lives become closely entwined with both of them encountering the Babe at different times. Strongly recommended.