Peter Golenbock has written oral history before, most notably about the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Casey Stengel Yankees. This is good because it enables Golenbock to mail in the first hundred pages of this new book, a lengthy recap of those two earlier ones. The history of New York City baseball is traced slowly, from 1880 through 1960, as we revisit scenes from "Bums" and reread profiles on Stengel and first Mets General Manager George Weiss from "Dynasty".

Golenbock's strength in those earlier books wasn't so much his descriptions of individual games as it was the ability to draw detailed memories and strong quotes from players and fans. In "Amazin'", we read lengthy passages from a lot of memorable names in Mets history: the first three players interviewed are Rod Kanehl, Ron Hunt, and Ron Swoboda (and later on, we meet Ron Gardenhire. A pattern?). Al Leiter is the only post-1990 Met interviewed, and 66 of the book's final 67 passages are from him. Al's a terrific storyteller and I'd love to read his biography one day.

Other interviews are more suspect. That's because Golenbock simply reprints pages from the earlier autobiographies of Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and Lenny Dykstra. Strawberry's ghost-writer employed particularly dramatic prose, so Darryl's quotes stick out dramatically from all the other conversational recollections.

Many minor facts in this book are flatly incorrect, from the misnaming of Tom Seaver to the descriptions of Game 6 of the 1999 playoff series against the Braves. Golenbock describes the game one way, and then is contradicted by Leiter. This happens frequently throughout the book. Also odd is that Bob Murphy, the first voice ever heard broadcasting a Mets game on radio, and now in his 41st year of service, is mentioned exactly twice in the book. Also mentioned exactly twice is Michael Kay, a Yankee broadcaster for 11 years and never an employee of the Mets. Where's the Murph? Also omitted is the furore over the 1992 trade of David Cone, although this is perhaps the only omission of a major turning point in Met fortunes throughout the book's 625-page length.

You can learn a lot about Mets history from "Amazin'", particularly from the chapter on Bill Shea, and from the chapters on the recent Bobby Valentine years, the first such chapters written about the current team. On these levels, "Amazin'" is groundbreaking. On other levels, it seems rushed: the book ends abruptly with Leiter discussing the final out of the 2000 World Series, and there's no author afterword or conclusion.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Great history of the early days, but.....  Jun 05, 2002
By Francis P. Englert "fpe"
The first half of this book, up to the resurgence of the Mets in the mid to late 80s, is excellant. Many observations from a lot of players give a good overall view of the terrible 60s, leading up to great victory in '69, an almost victory in '73, and the decline after that. However, the focus on the late 80s is much too reliant upon a few memior/biographies, and less on the oral interviews of the earlier chapters. The oral interview comes back for the Mets' playoff teams of the 1999/2000. But with no interview subject except Al Leiter, these chapters lack the multiple perspectives of the earlier pages. And it is clear that this book was rushed into the bookstores for the 2002 baseball season. It has to be the worst edited book I've read in a long time, with many small factual errors.

4 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Mets Fans Deserve Better  May 29, 2002
By Greg Prince
Three players have spanned the entire history of the New York Mets -- Ed Kranepool (1962-1979), Mookie Wilson (1980-1989) and John Franco (1990-present). No season has taken place without one of them on the roster for at least part of the year. And nowhere in this supposed oral history do their thoughts appear.

Three of the most popular, longest serving, most identifiable players in team history. The three guys who can be said to have seen it all. Peter Golenbock doesn't bother with them.

That should tell you what a slipshod affair "Amazin'" is.

That's what's not in there. What is in there is stuff like this: The implication that the Mets' troubles with the Braves of the late 1990s dates back to Claudell Washington leaving New York to sign with Atlanta in 1980. Rambling reminiscences from Ron Gardenhire on what it was like in Tidewater in 1983. And more errors than John Valentin playing first base.

The work of Peter Golenbock and his editors gets half a star for dredging up bizarrely fascinating tidbits like Craig Swan's objection to serving as birddog for Joel Youngblood while the two were hunting. Half a star goes to the cover design and the subtitle of the book, which is enough to [attract] any true Mets fan. And one star goes to the Mets' actual history which is too good to be trampled by the likes of lazy, inaccurate fatcat authors who don't pay their subject matter a whit of the respect or attention it deserves.

Peter Golenbock is the worst thing to happen to Mets history since Bobby Bonilla. May neither ever get another assignment in baseball.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

Skip This  Jan 09, 2006
By T. Valenti
I'm a huge Mets fan, and if i had to summarize this book in word, it would be "uneven." Because it's an oral history, you frequently only are presented with one viewpoint. That's understandable, but it's Golenbock's job to then bring up the counterpoint, which he does not often do.

The book is rife with spelling errors and factual mistakes. Who edited this? The last few chapters covering the Bobby Valentine era are pretty much an Al Leiter showcase, as NO other players from that era are quoted.

Poor showing by Golenbock. Suitable only for the diehard Mets fan who just wants a refresher of what he already knows/read.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

Doesn't quite bring it.  May 24, 2004

Great book for Mets fans, though the book does make you grit your teeth at times, mostly because of the factual errors already mentioned by other reviewers here and because of Golenbock's overreliance on the published memoirs of others, particularly the horrifically written Strawberry's. I also think that too few members of the Mets are or would consent to be interviewed. For instance, what's a history of the NY Mets without the POV of Ed Kranepool, who spanned three distinct eras of the team?

The best account of the Mets, though only up through '73, remains Leonard Koppett's THE NEW YORK METS. If you're interested in details and a solid analysis of the Mets transformation from bottom dogs to World Champs, Koppett's the one to beat.

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