Brock, Darryl. Two in the field.

Plume. 382p. c2002. 0-452-28356-6. $14.00. SA*

In this sequel to the time travel novel If I Never Get Back, Sam Fowler returns to post-Civil War America and tries to reconnect with a woman fie met in the earlier book. The author feels the need to keep tying up loose ends from that novel, which is too bad because the tale he spins here can stand well enough on its own. Our hero meets up with famous people of the period--Mark Twain. George Custer, and Crazy Horse--along with less famous tramps, gamblers, and, above all, baseball players. It is Sam's passion for the birth of baseball that supplies much of the period color of the novel. The positions of the players, the composition of the ball, the lopsided scores, and myriad other details give a real flavor of those early days. In his travels from the gambling salons of Saratoga to the Black Hills of the Dakotas, Sam charms us with his basic goodness and impresses with his ready fists. He not only teaches boxing to a young friend, but also handily punches his way out of several close calls. An amusing aspect of the novel is Sam's insertion of our contemporary political attitudes into a time more than 100 years ago. Faithful to his San Francisco citizenship, he is unfailingly politically correct (by current standards) in his attitudes toward blacks, homosexuals, women, and Native Americans--and how easily his 19th-century friends adopt these enlightened views! The book is amusing, exciting, and highly recommended. Michael R Healy, English Teacher; Wood River H.S., Halley, ID