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Al C.risafulliI've gone through a couple of books this summer that have made for great reading:
"Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig" by Jonathan Eig is a great window into Gehrig's life, with lots of great information presented in a way that's a quick and informative read. I found the book to be a great look into Gehrig's personality.
As a companion, I read "A Legend in the Making: The New York Yankees in 1939" by Richard J. Tofel. This is a blow-by-blow account of the 1939 Yankees' season, one of the greatest teams ever assembled despite Gehrig's illness taking him out of the game during the early part of the year.
Right now I'm in the middle of "The Black Prince of Baseball" by Don Dewey, which is a book about Hal Chase. I'm finding it fascinating reading, very well-written and informative. I'm only about a third of the way in, though.
And of course, no prewar baseball book list would be complete without the two books that I think are the best baseball books ever (and two of the best history books ever as well), in "The Glory of their Times" and "Baseball When the Grass was Real." I can't recommend either one of those books enough.
-Al