In 1967 Time Life published a series of books. Each book depicts the important happenings of the particular year the book is written about. This book has a particular interest to me because it reflects the month-to-month happening for the year 1929, the year in which I was born. In fact I made my appearance in this world on the day the banks closed on October 24th. Therefore, this particular time capsule was of personal interest to me although, the year was also an interesting note in history.
Each chapter in the book is a condensed passage from Time Magazine found in the articles of that year. Each chapter was written using the same words that appeared in the original article. The chapters cover such interests as theater, arts, news, politics, aeronautics, people, Countries of interest for that respective year, prohibition and more, divided chronologically for that particular year. If all history books were written in this manner and size children would probably enjoy studying history. I found it all very interesting.
In addition, the book contains pictures of the people, of that era, in the named categories Pictures add to the interest because you can see what that person really looked like rather than how he/she may have been depicted on the silver screen. At the end of each chapter there are two segments entitled Milestones and Miscellany.
Milestones, tells of light news flashes such as marriage, death, promotions and others. In Miscellany we get light and sometimes funny news stories. Some are funny in a serious way i.e. in Jackson, TN a man told his wife not to put the cat out. She did and he shot her. Things were not too different back than then they are now. The back of the book has famous quotes of the year. Thomas A. Edison was supposed to have said “I am not acquainted with anyone who is happy.” Having had that attitude I am surprised he invented anything at all and did not himself have a negative air.
This series of books is not found on the shelves of bookstores today. I found mine by ordering it from Borders. I was told that eBay or Amazon could probably also order it for you. Order one for your own birth year it is interesting to see what happened in your first year of life. Enjoy!.
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