Barnstorming, A Negro Baseball Story by Jonathan Carroll

With Black Lives Matter in the news daily, Barnstorming, although set in the 1940s-50s, will resonate with people today.

Although Jonathan Carroll calls Cambridge, Massachusetts home, his family town is Eatonville, Florida, the first "all free" legally incorporated black town in the United States of America. Being the great grandson of one of its first mayors, Columbus H. Crooms (14-year tenure as mayor), you can imagine that Jonathan has spent a great deal of time there throughout his life.

Jonathan has traveled the world, and in his free time, it is spent scuba diving some of the world's most beautiful dive sites. His ability for storytelling has been passed down to him by his elders, as is the tradition of many African-American families.

Susan Yule

President and CEO

“It was a privilege to be an early reader of Barnstorming; I loved how Jonathan used a period of great social challenges and opportunities as a backdrop to tell a wonderful story about character, choices and love. I highly recommend it as a ‘must read’. This book destined to be a great film, remember, I said it first!”

Cheryl Singleton

Regional Coordinator

“In reading Barnstorming, I appreciate the strength of the characters, especially the female ones. The care Jonathan has taken in his character development is incredible. By the end of the book, I truly felt like I personally knew these people. This book is set before my time, but it has so many familiarities to the issues of today, race, equality and who we want to be as a society told from many perspectives. Bravo Jonathan you have created an incredible literary work.”

Brian Rossini

Auto Mechanic Shop Owner

“One of the best books I have read in a long time, with three kids and business, I don’t have a lot of down time, but I couldn’t put this book down and read it in no time. From the very beginning it captured me. It is also amazing to know this is the first book by this author. I cannot wait to see what else he writes! It’s an absolute must read!”

Michael Scott

Google Book Review

“What a wonderful book! It was suggested I read this book by a friend and I am so glad they did. The character come to life in this book and I just could not help but to turn to the next page to see what was going to happen next. The fact that a white man played in the negro leagues during segregation, blew my mind but the way the authors family history was weaved into the book was seamless and you could feel his passion. This book was written with incredible attention to the details and I felt like some of these people could have been from my own family. Kudos to Jonathan Carroll the author of this book. You have a hit on your hands my friend. I hope you think about putting this on the big screen, this book is begging to be film.”