Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression
Book Review: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an...
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful book. So full of the real side of life that is sorely missing in today's culture. Would love for my grandchildren to read it. Book Review: Little Heathens
Summary: 4 Stars
As you might expect of a former English professor and school teacher,
the book is easy to read and is well-written. The author's reminiscences about growing up on an Iowa farm are interesting because her formative
years were the difficult years of the Great Depression, when economy and making do with what one had were important virtues. She demonstrates the way in which the family was extraordinarily thrifty in saving and making use of every scrap of food, piece of clothing and spare bit of thread.
Like a number of the books that have been written about people's lives in
more exotic locations, like "A Year in Provence" or "Under the Tuscan Sun", the author also provides some recipes that she particularly enjoyed when she lived on the farm in addition to when she prepared meals for a
family. The variety of home remedies are also fun to take a look at. On the whole, it is an entertaining book as well as a lesson in how times of thrift and privation needn't be unhappy.
Book Review: Little Heathens
Summary: 5 Stars
Little Heathens is a near anthropological survey of life on a small family farm in Iowa during the 1930's, when there was no electricity, running water, bathrooms and very few if any "store bought" goods. It is today a world foreign in this age of convenience and Millie laments the loss of the "rich store of knowledge that had been bestowed on us by life on that simple farm," and the self-confidence and self-reliance it fostered. It's odd that this simple little memoir - nothing more than an elder grandparent retelling what life was like "when I was young" - has struck a chord with so many readers, it is one of the New York Times 10 most notable books of 2007. The Times attributes its success in part because so many memoirs today are about unsavory people doing scandalous things, it is a relief to read about a real person going about a "normal" life (if such a thing exists), someone you'd like to have as a relative or friend, or even to walk in her shoes (when she wore any). Partly it is Millie herself who is humble, sincere and likable.
But it is also, I believe, about bigger current day issues: Global Warming, Peak Oil, Recessions, high food prices and other man-made slow motion train wrecks have many questioning if society is on the right track and naturally many are looking back to the past for answers. A return to the country, simplicity, slow pace of life, the values of thrift, honor and tradition are finding wides audiences in modern forms, such as organics, slow food, alternative energy. They say when you reach a certain age "everything old is new again" and Millies account of the 1930s is finding a lot of interest in these times. It's a beautiful book of substance and simplicity, I recommend it highly.
Book Review: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits
Summary: 5 Stars
A five Star book for me!
Even tho' I was born in SD in '42, I could relate to many of the chapters, but ours was a much less difficult time.
I have sent copies of the book to 2 cousins and a close friend from Iowa who needed a good laugh to help him through some tough times. This book will definitely "take you away" and give you the therapy of many good laughs. You will also count your blessings that we live in this age.
I compared it to Laura Ingalls Wilder books... with the tough times... except the Iowans were surrounded by generations of family in the same location; rather than a family alone moving from state to state enduring those hardships. What a heartwarming wonderfully written book that you just want to share with all, and hope that it brings them as many laughs and as much food for thought as you got while reading it.
Book Review: Great memoir
Summary: 4 Stars
I first checked this book out of the public library but once I started reading it I realized there were some really good home remedies and other info that I wanted forever so I bought a copy for myself. I also loaned it to my mother to read who enjoyed it as well - she said it brought up old memories for her. It is a wonderful book and it makes everyone want to tell their parents to write their stories down before they are forgotten or lost!