In the life of the great cultural icon baseball slugger Mickey Mantle, we see America's romance with boldness, its celebration of muscle, and its comfort in power during a time when might did make right. But if his life symbolized the great expectations of America in the 1950s, it also epitomized the dashed dreams of a troubled generation in the 1960s and its unrealistic hopes for achievement. Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son is both an explosive biography of one of the world's most fascinating and enduring sports heroes and a telling look at the American society of his time. During six years of research, former Sports Illustrated writer Tony Castro interviewed more than 250 friends, teammates, lovers, acquaintances, and drinking buddies of one of America's most famous sports heroes.