At face value, this is a story about baseball, about a little girl and her love of the Dodgers and how it brought her closer to her father. But as you get further into Doris Kearns Goodwin’s story, Wait Till Next Year, this becomes the story of a time period lost to us now. Kearns Goodwin grew up in a small suburb of New York. Her father rode the train into the city everyday and took time every evening to hear his little girl’s report on the Dodgers game. Her mother was sickly, but still managed to be the ultimate homemaker. They were surrounded by friends who gathered for backyard barbeques. She knew the local shopkeepers and they tolerated her endless curiosity. It seems like an ideal time, but she also talks about the undercurrents that were starting to bubble up like McCarthyism and racism and social conditions that would eventually tear apart the community she so loved. Threaded through the history of this community is the story of baseball. The neighborhood was split into factions that cheered the Yankees, Giants, and the Dodgers. Friendly taunting among the groups was part of the social interaction during a time when the teams often faced each other in league championship as well as World Series games. Baseball was something that brought the community and families together. Doris Kearns Goodwin utilizes her story telling magic to transport the reader to another place and time and cheer on this little girl who loved baseball.