Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true. Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his cornfield tell him, "If you build it, he will come." He interprets it as an instruction to build a baseball field on his farm, upon which appear the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series. When the voices continue, Ray seeks out a reclusive author to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his field. —Scott Renshaw <as.idc@forsythe.stanford.edu> "If you build it, he will come," is what thirty-six-year-old novice farmer Ray Kinsella hears several times over the course of days from a bodiless voice emanating from somewhere in the cornfield on his Iowa farm. Later, he has a vision that the "it" is a baseball field, the "he" is Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was infamous for his association in the Chicago 8, the eight players of the 1919 White Series who were banned for life from the sport for throwing games in exchange for money from gamblers. Although it was proved that Jackson did take money, it was never proved that he participated in throwing any of the games. Ray grew up with baseball, his long-deceased father, John, who played in the minor leagues, lived in Chicago during that infamous year, and told stories to Ray about it and Jackson when he was growing up. He was estranged from his father at the time of his death, something that he now regrets. With the moral support of his wife, Annie, he tears up part of their cornfield to build that baseball field. He eventually hears the voice telling him other things, always without a clear understanding on his part of what it all means. One he believes it has to do with is famed '60's writer Terence Mann, now a recluse who stopped writing because he, renowned as the voice of his generation, didn't always want to be the answer to his generation's problems. Another he believes has to do with it is Archie "Moonlight" Graham, who played only one half of one inning of one major league game in 1922 and died in 1972. Ray's voice led path may be difficult to achieve since cynical Mann may not have the same direction of the voice as him and Graham is dead. He will have to work through these puzzles to understand the full meaning of what the voice wants for him, which may not happen if he and Annie lose the farm and thus the baseball field, a real possibility due to the latter taking away from earning income from the farm, especially as Annie's cutthroat brother, Mark, who says he is looking out for her best interest, will do whatever needed to get Ray back to what he considers reality of earning a living from the farm. —Huggo
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