The Iowa Baseball Confederacy

"A memorable addition to the literature about the summer's game" from the author of Shoeless Joe —the basis for the film Field of Dreams ( Detroit Free Press ). Bearing W. P. Kinsella's trademark combination of "sweet-natured prose and a richly imagined world," The Iowa Baseball Confederacy tells the story of Gideon Clark, a man on a quest ( The Philadelphia Inquirer ). He is out to prove to the world that the indomitable Chicago Cubs traveled to Iowa in the summer of 1908 for an exhibition game against an amateur league, the Iowa Baseball Confederacy. But a simple game somehow turned into a titanic battle of more than two thousand innings, and Gideon Clark struggles to set the record straight on this infamous game that no one else believes ever happened. "A riveting mystery with a host of fascinating characters, a first-rate ghost story, and the tale of a quest that ends not with the object of desire, but with the realization of love. Kinsella has another hit on his hands. He's still batting one thousand." — Detroit Free Press "His love for baseball is evident in the lyrical descriptions of the game." — Chicago Tribune "Whether or not you like baseball, read the Bible, play a musical instrument, like Indian folklore, time travel, or the Chicago Cubs, you will like The Iowa Baseball Confederacy ." — USA Today "In his first novel since Shoeless Joe , Kinsella returns to the magical turf he created there: a loving mixture of baseball, life and fantasy, in a world where dreams don't have to come true, because they have a validity all their own." — Publishers Weekly