Barnstorming is a novel, inspired by the author's hometown of Eatonville, Florida, one of the first legally incorporated self-governing black municipalities in the U.S. The characters are based on family and tales told throughout his life. The story tells of a young black woman who inherits a Negro League baseball team and meets a wealthy white sports writer. They defy the rules of Jim Crow to cover her team's games in his father's Houston newspaper. Barnstorming is an homage to the great pastime of the Negro Baseball League. The book is about race - blacks and whites in the South during a time of cultural change. It is also about love, honor, perseverance, and understanding during an often violent era in U.

S. history. This was a time of lynching, of unspeakable hatred. And yet, there were many who stood up to the "wrongs" and worked hard to make them "right". Barnstorming is about the good and the bad, the complexities of bias, and the triumph of so many Americans. Jonathan Carroll began writing Barnstorming on the encouragement of his mother, Jacqueline Leola Carroll, who always believed in not only stepping outside the box, but in not seeing a box at all. Writer Tom Martorelli joined him in developing the story and characters, placing them in the historical context of the American South in the 1940s and '50s.