This riveting study of Joe DiMaggio offers a more sympathetic look at his life beyond the baseball field, a reversal of how the legendary sports icon has been portrayed in recent years

As the New York Yankees' star centerfielder from 1936 to 1951, Joe DiMaggio is enshrined in America's memory as the epitome in sports of grace, dignity, and that ineffable quality called "class." But his career after retirement, starting with his nine-month marriage to Marilyn Monroe, was far less auspicious. Writers like Gay Talese and Richard Ben Cramer have painted the private DiMaggio as cruel or self-centered. Now, Jerome Charyn restores the image of this American icon, looking at DiMaggio's life in a more sympathetic light.

DiMaggio was a man of extremes, superbly talented on the field but privately insecure, passive, and dysfunctional. He never understood that for Monroe, on her own complex and tragic journey, marriage was a career move; he remained passionately committed to her throughout his life. He allowed himself to be turned into a sports memorabilia money machine. In the end, unable to define any role for himself other than "Greatest Living Ballplayer," he became trapped in "a horrible kind of minutia." But where others have seen little that was human behind that minutia, Charyn in Joe DiMaggio presents the tragedy of one of American sports' greatest figures.

"This is the first book any DiMaggio fan should read."—Allen Barra, San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco Chronicle

"Jerome Charyn applies his considerable skills as a novelist to exploring the gnawing mysteries surrounding a man who 'was brutal in his devotion to the game.'"—Sam Roberts, New York Times - New York Times

"If you are a sports fan, a Marilyn fan or just really enjoy a book that makes you think, you will enjoy Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil... This is an extraordinary telling of Joe the man."—Leslie Wright, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Blogcritics.org - Seattle Post Intelligencer

"Accessing the moments and memories of a bygone era and a time of spectacular achievements, Jerome Charyn has delved into the mystery of Joe DiMaggio and brought him to life."—Leslie Wright, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Blogcritics.org - Seattle Post Intelligencer

". . . this is not a hagiography; it's much more thoughtful than that."—Library Journal - Library Journal

". . . an intriguing, plausible take on this notoriously opaque hero."—Kirkus Reviews
- Kirkus Reviews

"Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil is on Facebook" - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joe-DiMaggio-The-Long-Vigil/173247736020293

"Jerome Charyn, a distinguished novelist, brings a sympathetic imagination to a man whose talents seemed limitless on the field and death-choked off it."—Martin Levin, Globe and Mail - Globe and Mail

"[An] elegantly written and moving book. . . . This slender, nuanced mini-biography is as brilliant a piece of writing as I have ever read, with prose that is poetic, with a deep understanding of and feeling for DiMaggio."—Charles Stephen, Lincoln Journal Star - Lincoln Journal Star

"“….the book will give pleasure to those who fill with fever when baseball season is upon us.”—Molly McCloskey, Irish Times" - Irish Times

"Read a post by Jerome Charyn on the romance of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe on the Yale Press Log" - http://goo.gl/C8Ku5S

"This highly readable short book, really an extended essay, puts the life and career of a sporting icon in context."—Kevin Sweeney, Irish Times - Irish Times