An interesting snapshot of a bygone era!
935528
I bought the third edition of this book directly from the author himself via Amazon - it was seven days from placing the order to receiving the book. Very impressive shipping time USA to Australia!!
I devoured the book in two sittings! It has one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen on a book, and the content is succinct, informative, and fairly well written. While you know the outcome (as the story has been covered in much briefer form before), the fun is getting there - and finding out all the little details that weren't available before.
My only minor criticism would be that the editing could have been slightly better. At one point, a crew members wife is mentioned by name and it wasn't when she was introduced - that was a bit jarring. There are a couple of little things like that!
I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in Pan Am, the great flying boats, airline history, or someone just after a good tale!
3446516
Especialy for older Philadelphians like we are, this book brought back memories!
3171305
Attention all nostalgia buffs ! This book is not only chock full with amazing photos of movie theaters and memorabilia which will make your head spin, but it also will transport you back in time. Kudos to the author for allowing me to enjoy the simple pleasures of a bygone era!
2886861
The author really takes you back in a period when life was really harsh but rich and complex with a lot of codes and rules. The book is rich in vocabulary, culture and customs and all kinds of very interesting facts of life, showing people's emotions and their struggles to survive at a time when life expectancy was very short. The author succeeds in transposing what it must have felt like to live in these dark ages and her extensive vocabulary and knowledge of that time period really makes it exciting reading. You can just imagine how much research has gone into this book and the previous one which prompted me to buy this book and my growing interest on the subject because knowing how things evolved over the times helps us figure out how we got here. It is a history lesson, keeping things in perspective and of course as a woman it truly rings a bell, things have not changed all that much after all!
2431983
It is amazing to read the old history of the West from the point of view of a growing business group. This is a series of facts from these days; from the very early days of goods trading from UK, via Cotton trading to metal trading and extraction. It is interesting to imagine the life of the people during these times.
2901726
This is a simple, rather charming study of a bygone era. It is interesting largely because it takes readers into a relatively recent time & society with which most of us are unacquainted.
McBee examined the workers' relationships with their parents, living conditions, longings, intense friendships, romances & marriages, & numbingly boring jobs, & carefully researched the importance of class, generation, gender, & community in the formation of American character.
Commercial recreation was just coming into existence at the time, & it is fascinating to observe the differences between the heterosocial relationships of adolescents of the early twentieth century & those of today. The former amused themselves not only in dance halls & amusement parks, but at picnics, religious festivals, & men's social clubs, a far cry from the ubiquitous discos & rock concerts of our day.
The book is not particularly well written, & there is a great deal of repetition. Nevertheless, unlike many works of its ilk, it is easy to read, & always interesting. In addition, it is a historical & social record which could be useful to students of American gender relations for many years to come.
3385574
An insightful view into what it was like to have been a vagabond/hobo/transient during the early twentieth century.  I like.
817987
I really enjoyed this book and it brought back memories of places that we stopped at when we "did" the Oregon Trail on our Honda Goldwing one year!  Also, I learned more about the people and what they went through on their way west.  This might be a good book for an adventurous person who isn't all that "into" reading!
3455844
An old book about the history form my Home Town! Pennsauken is just one of those town you just don't think about if you lived in it or the surrounding areas, but actually has an interesting and rich history. Much of what made the town has been long forgotten by it's residence, and there really aren't anymore "old timers" - speaking from when I lived there when I was a kid. The town, which I believe had much greater "heydays" in the early to mid 1900's when Camden was more of a respectable city, because of how close Pennsauken sits to Camden, but unfortunately this just isn't the case anymore. I knew one of the Co-Authors to this book as he was a teacher of mine in jr.high. The book has been out of print for a long time, and has some great history about the make-up of the town. Would be nice if who-ever owned the rights to this book today (as I understand both the authors have since passed-away) would make the book available digitally (perhaps through Amazon) so the work and history from the book isn't lost to current and future generations.
4506445
A fascinating look back at the history of this small mill town and the people who made it a wonderful place for a young person to grow up. I grew up there as a young child so for me it was a great source of information and reminder of the past. For a student of history, it is an example of what happened and is continuing to happen to manufacturing in this country. I found a great deal of information about Marshall Fields and the role they played in shaping this town. The quality of the pictures was less than I would have liked, but I am not sure what they were working with as far as the originals. Recommend for anyone interested in the history of this small mill town. Thank you to the authors for saving this information and sharing it with us.
4972344
I don't like to have historians put into bad light as Ms. Tey did.  I have devoted too much of my life to it!  That said, I quite enjoyed the book and the way she approached this glimpse of history and mystery.  People are people, no matter the time they live and motivations are sometimes hard to see through the snippets people barely remember from classes when they are very young.  This was a nice diversion for me!
993795
I was interested in some of the hardships of the Great Depression era, and this book provided a close look at the life of a family during that time, in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl. I found the narrator (the child in the story) to give a detailed description of her life and the hardships her family faced during that time. It was an interesting, yet easy read, but I enjoyed it. I would recommend the book, especially for someone interested in this time frame of our history.
4103107
As another poster observed in the Kindle version, this is an excellent collection of snapshots of the social history of the 1920s. The writing is breezy. The focus is on familiar names, but a good treatment if you are just arriving. This was, as the book operates, a Celebrity Era. Missing is depth about Daily-grind Lives, such as factory workers, house keepers, school teachers, and mechanics. During this era, there was a maturation of the Industrial Era into simultaneous and on-going Consumer Era, Machine/Tech Era, Mass Media Era. I hope after enjoying this primer, readers will investigate more into 1920s social history. The US history is virtually blueprint of our times.
1682694
This is a nostalgia trip I've shared with some female friends and family: the clothing of our sisters and sweethearts back in the late Thirties, the war years, and then the postwar college years of the late Forties.  A thoughtful viewer/reader will recognize familiar icons of his dating and courtship days (ah, those camel's hair coats, that "Circle Pin" look!).  Rahar's, Joe's, brandy alexanders, one's first pizza, memories crowd the stage!  alan n. hall
723386
This delightful read brought back so many happy memories of that time.  It is a vivid reminder of how life has changed in many respects, but not the important one of a tightly knit community of resourceful and determined people.
1179995
These are women from a bygone era. They were all change agents in their own way, in spite of the cultural restrictions. I really enjoyed the pictures that were included. They help add context. I also appreciated that I knew very little about these women beforehand. A very entertaining read
3160673
I was born and raised in Malden, Massachusetts and enjoyed looking over the photos from days gone by. I imagined some of the scenes as the way my grandparents saw Malden. Anyone interested in the area will enjoy this book!