Shoeless Joe — W.P. Kinsella

The novel that inspired Field of Dreams: “A lyrical, seductive, and altogether winning concoction.” -- The New York Times Book Review
 
One of Sports Illustrated's 100 Greatest Sports Books
 
“If you build it, he will come.” When Ray Kinsella hears these mysterious words spoken in the voice of an Iowa baseball announcer, he is inspired to carve a baseball diamond in his cornfield. It is a tribute to his hero, the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson, whose reputation was forever tarnished by the scandalous 1919 World Series.
 
What follows is a timeless story that is “not so much about baseball as it is about dreams, magic, life, and what is quintessentially American” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
 
“A triumph of hope.” -- The Boston Globe
 
“A moonlit novel about baseball, dreams, family, the land, and literature.” -- Sports Illustrated