Initially strong, intriguing effort... spoiled by weak, vapid ending
I picked this up as I was interested in the circa-WWI time period in US. The unfolding story drew me in and held my intense interest... until the weak and unsatisfying ending.The author seems to have done his homework quite well in exhaustively researching the time period and developing characters and plots accordingly. But when considering the book's length (~700 pages), it seemed the author was perhaps rushed to end the book by tying up loose ends/characters in short, weak, and ultimately unsatisfying scenes that left me feeling shortchanged.To me, the best part of the book was the opening vignette "Babe Ruth in Ohio". This piece, which can be read as a stand-alone short story, was worth the price of admission. However, I felt the ending revealed a work not overall worthy of the time needed to read it.