{"product_id":"metropolitans-isbn-9781662603006","title":"Metropolitans","description":"\u003cb\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMetropolitans \u003c\/i\u003eexpertly unpacks the 'cruel optimism' linking the yearning of a fanbase whose suffering is alleviated by sporadic miracles to the genuine dissident legacies that surrounded the team's creation and which have occasionally, miraculously, come back to life.\" —Jonathan Lethem, author of \u003ci\u003eMotherless Brooklyn \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Fortress of Solitude\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA love letter to a franchise and a thrilling study of New York City, \u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e traces the electric and calamitous history of the New York Mets.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMetropolitan\u003c\/i\u003es is for Mets fans, New York partisans, and everyone interested in the Mobius strip dynamic of sports and politics, the history of the national game, or the beautiful contradiction of baseball itself: a middle-class game owned by billionaires, in which the players—like the spectators—look to traverse the diamond and ultimately safely escape its many dangers. Along the way, A.M. Gittlitz re-introduces us to an eccentric cast of Metsian characters: Joan Payson, the first woman to buy a Major League Baseball team; a young Tom Seaver with an interest in progressive politics; and the contentious but beloved Mike Piazza. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGittlitz leads us through baseball’s amateur beginnings to the Mets’ first heady World Series on the heels of the Civil Rights and anti-war movements that many Mets players participated in. He guides us to the bad boy years, the exploitative development of farm academies in developing nations, and their inglorious purchase by a new breed of capitalist—\u003ci\u003eeven after which they remained lovable losers\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e brilliantly shows us that sports have long been a site of political struggle, rousing class consciousness, and animating fights for racial equality. From purportedly calming riots in ’69 to producing some of the greatest chokes in sporting history, from integration to desperate labor struggle against franchise owners, \u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e makes a deeply humane and convincing argument for the fascinating singularity of the New York Mets—and why they are not just the team of the counterculture, the freaks, and the losers, but the beloved team of anyone with a beating heart.\"Ambitious and intellectually invigorating, this will delight baseball devotees, surprise readers unfamiliar with the game’s political history, and satisfy those more versed in leftist politics than box scores.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e expertly unpacks the 'cruel optimism' linking the yearning of a fanbase whose suffering is alleviated by sporadic miracles to the genuine dissident legacies that surrounded the team’s creation and which have occasionally, miraculously, come back to life. How appropriate that I write these words while watching the Mets being no-hit through eight innings—precisely the situation of the U.S. left at this moment. How will our heroes survive? Stay tuned!\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJonathan Lethem, author of \u003ci\u003eMotherless Brooklyn \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Fortress of Solitude\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Shea belongs to the people! \u003ci\u003eMetropolitans \u003c\/i\u003eunpacks the singular and wondrous history of Mets baseball. From Tom Seaver's bold stand on Vietnam to the big-dollar glitz of the Piazza years, A.M. Gittlitz has assembled a true people's history of New York City's most special franchise.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNoah Kulwin, co-host of \u003ci\u003eBlowback \u003c\/i\u003epodcast\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e is a gem, an ode to the countercultural working-class punk side of baseball that gets ignored by corporate ownership and media. Its vehicle: the singularly star-crossed New York Mets, and this is a rich, roaring, necessary text for Mets fans, but it also deserves to be widely read as a socio-political history of America in the last 60-some years. \u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that beneath its stifling monopolistic business practices, Major League Baseball is a complex civic institution populated by wise-ass humans yearning for good baseball, cheap beer, and a living wage.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eJohn W. Miller, author of \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"If Howard Zinn himself had written a people's history of 20th century baseball in New York City and the rise of the Amazin' Mets, he would've been hard-pressed to approach what A.M. Gittlitz has accomplished in \u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e. Filled with captivating detail and historical insight, Gittlitz's work is a singular account of a period in America when pro sports, mass culture and urban politics collided and became inextricably linked forever.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eDevin Gordon, author of \u003ci\u003eSo Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets―the Best Worst Team in Sports\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The book is unlike any other Mets-related book we’ve seen; Gittlitz has gone deep into not just Mets history, but the societal context of the team’s founding, its early years, and all the subsequent eras of the team’s existence. It is a book that’s not just for baseball fans, but for anyone with an interest in late 20th century New York or American sports culture.\"\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eBrian Salvatore, \u003ci\u003eAmazin' Avenue\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003ci\u003eMetropolitans\u003c\/i\u003e comprises] staggering amounts of backstory, dozens of details that have been lost to time until now, and a blend of perspective and context that feels as relevant in 2025 as it would have in 1969.\"\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eGreg Prince, \u003ci\u003eFaith and Fear in Flushing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eA.M. Gittlitz is an organizer and writer focusing on counterculture and radical politics. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eI Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism\u003c\/i\u003e and co-host of the podcast This Wreckage. He lives in Ridgewood, Queens, but can be often found Tuesday nights at the Vegan City food stand at Citi Field.","brand":"Astra House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233384870117,"sku":"NP9781662603006","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781662603006.jpg?v=1767732602","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/metropolitans-isbn-9781662603006","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}