JOE DIMAGGIO - THE HERO's LIFE by RICHARD BEN CRAMER
OK, I admit it. I could care less about baseball (though I could care even less than that about football!) So why would I read a biography of the baseball great Joe Dimaggio? I admit it is because of my curiosity about Marilyn Monroe. Yes, I too read books on Marilyn, who has more books written about her than just about ANY famous person on earth, more than Elvis, or Princess Diana. I can't say exactly how I originally approached this subject - events that happened before my time- but let's say I've read on the Kennedys, and so I became acquainted with the mysterious death of Marilyn (I have never in my life seen her in a movie!) and her marriage to Joe Dimaggio.
FOR MARILYN FANS this book does not disappoint with information about her relationship on Joe in details I have not come across before. For instance, I used to believe that Joe hated the Kennedys (and Sinatra) because they had mob connections. But now I know, Joe had those connections too. I am more convinced than ever that she did not commit suicide due to the facts presented in this book by Richard Ben Cramer, which state that Marilyn had just ordered an expensive wedding dress to rewed Joe and had everything to look forward to. In fact the date of her death and their wedding date were so close you have to wonder if someone was OUT TO GET JOE!
I appreciated the description of Marilyn visiting the troops in Korea. I began to realize that she could be a dare devil, hanging out of a copter that went circling the camps in the freezing cold, as men inside held her feet to the floor. I came to understand that Joe had given up on trying to control and change Marilyn to loving her as unconditionally as he could but that more than anything, he waited her career out, and was there for a second time around that never happened...
