Baker, Kevin (Breen) 1958-

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BAKER, Kevin (Breen) 1958-

PERSONAL: Born August 20, 1958, in Englewood, NJ; son of Charles Kenneth (an actor) and Claire (a social worker; maiden name, Slade) Baker; married Ellen J. Abrams (a writer), October 11, 1992. Education: Columbia University, B.A., 1980. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Quaker. Hobbies and other interests: Baseball, American history.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency, 50 Talmage Farm Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937.

CAREER: Gloucester Daily Times, Gloucester, MA, staff writer, 1971-80; Foundation Center, New York, NY, compiler of entries for reference books, 1980-85; Public Securities Association, New York, NY, freelance writer on municipal bonds papers, 1986-87; letter writer for mayor's office, New York, NY, 1987-88; freelance writer, 1988—.

MEMBER: American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International.

AWARDS, HONORS: Today Show Book Club Selection, 2002, for Paradise Alley.

WRITINGS:

Sometimes You See It Coming (novel), Crown (New York, NY), 1993.

(Contributor) Harold Evans and Gail Buckland, The American Century, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Dreamland, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

Paradise Alley, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to In a Word, edited by Jack Hitt, Dell (New York, NY), 1992.

SIDELIGHTS: Published in 1993, Kevin Baker's first novel, Sometimes You See It Coming, tells the story of a great baseball player's career. In an article in Publishers Weekly, Crown editor Dick Marek explained that Sometimes You See It Coming "is a book we bought for a modest advance. It's a first novel by a young writer and we bought it because we fell in love with it." Publishers Weekly went on to elaborate, however: "But did Marek really see this coming: 100,000 first printing and $100,000 in promotion budget?" These figures are impressive for a first novel, and they came about because several editors at Crown continued to read the manuscript and urge its promotion.

Although Sometimes You See It Coming reminded many of Bernard Malamud's classic baseball novel The Natural, the story in Sometimes You See It Coming holds its own, according to critics. After noting that "this one ends the way a baseball story should: three and two, two out in the ninth, legend at bat," John Skow in Time urged readers to "put this one on the shelf with The Natural." Chicago Tribune writer Kerry Luft acknowledged Sometimes You See It Coming "is almost ideal for a student of baseball history. Baker is clearly a dedicated fan, and he has based many of the characters on real players."

Dreamland, set in New York at the turn of the twentieth century, stars "Gyp the Blood," a strong-arm man who would kill a man who defaulted on a two-dollar bet. His associates, "Kid Twist" and "Trick the Dwarf," are also seedy characters in the New York underworld. Book Page reviewer Alden Mudge wrote that the book effectively portrays the "anger and anguish" of immigrants to the United States, as well as their children's rebellion against Old World cultures. Baker told Mudge, "One of the interesting dilemmas of historical fiction is how much room a writer has to make things up. I think you can create composite characters and change chronologies just as long as you get the essence of the thing right. That's pretty much the trick in any kind of fiction—to reach for that greater truth."

Published in 2002, Paradise Alley is set during the Draft Riots of 1863. It is told from the point of view of Herbert Willis Robinson, a New York reporter who travels undercover among the poor people of New York, and reports their rage at being drafted when they are unable to pay a fee to avoid it. During the three days of the riots, working men tried to burn the city down. Baker depicts the riots, and tells the stories of many of those who participated in them or were affected by them. A Kirkus Reviews writer commented that the book is frequently "grisly," but noted that it was "deftly plotted."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Heritage, February-March, 2003, review of Paradise Alley, p. 17.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 14, 1999, Eileen M. Drennen, review of Dreamland, p. L12.

Booklist, January 1, 1999, p. 79; September 15, 1999, review of Dreamland, p. 277; December 15, 1999, p. 797; July, 2002, p. 1795.

Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1993, section 5, p. 3.

Christian Science Monitor, March 11, 1999, Ron Charles, review of Dreamland, p. 20.

Esquire, March, 1999, p. 38.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 1999, review of Dreamland, p. 4; August 15, 2002, review of Paradise Alley, p. 1155.

Library Journal, October 1, 1998, p. 110; January, 1999, review of Dreamland, p. 146; September 15, 1999, review of Dreamland, p. 130; August, 2002, Andrea Kempf, review of Paradise Alley, p. 138.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 4, 1993, pp. 2, 13; March 7, 1999, review of Dreamland, p. 4.

New Republic, May 24, 1999, p. 46.

New York Times Book Review, October 11, 1998, David S. Reynolds, review of The American Century, p. 8; February 28, 1999, Thomas Mallon, review of Dreamland, p. 10.

Publishers Weekly, February 1, 1993, pp. 61-62; September 14, 1998, p. 55; September 9, 2002, review of Paradise Alley, p. 40.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 28, 1999, Harry Levins, review of Dreamland, p. C5.

San Francisco Chronicle, April 4, 1999, Adam Mazmanian, review of Dreamland, p. 9.

Time, March 22, 1993, p. 70; November 23, 1998, p. 56.

Times Literary Supplement, August 6, 1999, Jonathan Fasland, review of Dreamland, p. 21.

Wall Street Journal, February 26, 1999, Emily R. Sendler, review of Dreamland, p. W11.