DYNASTY: The New York Yankees 1949-1964

An uninterrupted replay of the Yankees' Camelot years--summers not so long ago when they seemed able to win the pennant without even trying (fourteen of them in sixteen seasons). Although tiffs tome is admittedly ""a tribute"" to those Bronx Bomber greats, the author attempts to ""separate the baseball-card fantasy from the reality."" Thus, in spite of the club's estimable esprit de corps, there was also some inevitable player-manager (Stengel, Houk and Berra) friction; several highly-publicized team incidents (a brawl at the Copacabana; a harmonica throwing scene on the bus); and various players' personal problems (Billy Martin's temper, Ryne Duren's alcoholism, Roger Maris' petulance, etc.). Interviews with Mickey Mantle--""the heart and essence"" of the dynasty--Rizzuto, Kubek, Richardson, Skowron, Berra, Ford, et al. aren't quite enough to counterbalance the book's noticeably musty style. Alas, the team's glorious four-decade-long winning streak came to an abrupt halt in the mid-'60's--the result of mismanagement, retirements, bad trades and a fallow farm system. Still, the tradition lingers on. Voluminous and flairless--Yankee fans will find it delightfully exhaustive--others, merely exhausting.