Michael R. Stevens

Strength for the Fight

History & Biography

“In Strength for the Fight, Gary Scott Smith brings a scrupulous historian’s eye for details and patterns, alongside his own abiding concern for faithful Christian practice, to create a compelling fusion. To those of us immersed in the drama of Jackie Robinson’s struggles to break baseball’s color barrier, the focus has always seemed to be on the solitary hero, fueled by a mysterious intensity and strength. Now, with Smith’s well-documented narrative, we see that the mystery of Robinson’s strength was at least in part the result of a deep faith commitment and a sense of having divine justice on his side. On a topic that has received heavy attention (and rightly so), this book accomplishes the rare feat of reinforcing the power of a well-known narrative while deepening our understanding and appreciation of that narrative’s rich spiritual depths.”