Customer Reviews

Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family

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I didn't know Lynne Vincent or Dick Cheney when I grew up in Casper,Wyoming. I did know, at one time or another, many people mentioned in Lynne Cheney's memoir. She has portrayed them accurately, from the stern Dean of Women at the high school to John and Shirley Gray who operated the best after-hours joint in town.

In my experience, as both a writer and memoir workshop leader, if a memoir isn't honest, candid, and courageous, it's just fiction. Cheney's book is definitely not fiction; it's what a memoir should be - candid, honest, and true. I know. I went to the same high school, walked the same streets, played in the same parks, shopped in the same stores, people watched with my parents on the same corner (2nd and Center), and cruised the same drive-ins. While that may seem to impart an obvious bias, I read Blue Skies, No Fences with a critical eye. The book did not disappoint me.

Casper wasn't, and still isn't, like anywhere else I've ever lived or visited. Isolated on the high plains, at the foot of a mountain range, Casper developed a unique character - half-Western, half-cosmopolitan. A boom town (and occasionally a bust town), it had an influx of energy, money, and culture that created a "can-do and it's your own fault if you don't" mentality.

Self-reliance was admired; success was encouraged. Individuals were judged on their own merit. If people harbored a prejudice, and I remember very few who did, it took second place to respect for an individual's character and efforts. Harsh winters and the omnipresent wind bred hardy people who approached life with a certain stoicism laced with humor. Cheney has deftly captured both the mood and the impetus of Casper in the middle of the 20th century.

With courage and candor, Cheney has opened the closets and introduced us to the skeletons. And, those skeletons have emerged as real people, with all their gifts and virtues, vices and shortcomings revealed.

I believe there are three basic approaches to memoirs: some write it like it really was; some write it like they wish it had been; some write it the way they think readers want it to be. Lynne Cheney wrote it like it really was at that time and in that place, neither glorifying nor exaggerating her hometown.

A carefully written, well-researched memoir enhances our collective history. It's this history that enables us, and future generations, to understand - indeed to vicariously experience - the spirit of a place or time different from the present. Cheney has written a true account that transcends nostalgia and provides another piece to the puzzle that is our American heritage.

Lynne Cheney's self proclaimed "Valentine" to her home town of Casper, Wyoming is truly a captivating, inspiring and heart warming read.

For those of us in Generation X it is a detailed view of our parents' childhood - a time when the world encompassed your neighborhood and being respectful to others - despite race, creed or color - was modeled by all. At times the books demonstrates how far we have come as a society - the treatment of an unwed mother in the 50's versus the lessened social stigmas associated today - and how much we have lost since the glory post World War II days. Television was not the favored tool for rearing children in the 50's, it was the tool to bring families together to observe national events and celebrations.

Mrs. Cheney's writing is entertaining and at times quite humerous. It truly shows the 50's were a time that boys and girls could become whatever they set their minds and hearts too. It is an emotional story where we can all feel loss for those who are no longer with us.

Maybe its the fact my families roots go back eight or more generations here in the west (Montana, Sierras of California) that I loved this book and any book that is about the richness and positive aspects of the rural wild west, where personal responsibility, self sufficiency, and common sense are the norm. Even in 2007. I also recommend Justice Sandra Day O'Connors book Lazy B which is about growing up in a cattle family here in the west. Both books show why so many of us call the west home. As well as why the west produces such strong smart women.

Fact is, the west builds character, because of the harsh summers, harsh winters, the need to be prepared because one often goes without power and cannot simply run down the street to a plethora of restaurants or stores. It also as the book notes, builds strong communities. And friendships that last thru thick and thin for decades. People have a tendency to stay put or as the saying goes, to put down roots. And as the author notes, the west makes for secure, thinking people. Quiet people who don't always have to be the center of attention. People who don't easily get flustered when those who denounce them or make fun of them, show up.

This is my favorite book by the author and is one I plan on giving as a gift to friends and family. Sure makes me happy I live here in the real west.

Lynne Cheney just keeps cranking out good books. Her latest, "Blue Skies, No Fences" took me back to growing up in the 40's and 50's. It didn't matter that we came from different states, the similarities were amazing. Other than the weather, small Wyoming towns were not much different from the small, blue-collar Southern California town that I came from. Thanks, Lynne, for reminding me of a time and place that were simpler, safer, and full of the deep love that came from those who nurtured us. They might have had different names and faces, but they had the same values and taught us the same lessons. Anne Walker

I am not from the West, but after reading this book I have a much clearer picture of why those who are from the West love it so. Lynne Cheney paints a wonderful picture of what it was like to grow up in Wyoming. I found it to be an informative and enjoyable read.

This book is well written and very enjoyable to read. It is refreshing to read about a time in our culture when family mattered and community had good moral influence. I appreciate Lynne's focus on writing books that reflect the values so important to the welfare of our nation.

Since my husband and I (and my Mother) grew up in the same area this was a wonderful trip down memory lane. She offers many thoughtful insights both on "our times" then as well as now.

I just read this lovely memoir. I have been an admirer of Vice President Chaney for years but did not know much about either Lynn or Dick. I was born in 1943 and grew up in a little town in NE Pennsylvania and on a farm also.

Reading Lynn's memories brought back so many of my own. Her book made me laugh and cry. What wonderful people were responsible for making this country what it is today. It does make me sad to realize that America is not the same country as when Lynn and Dick and I and my wife and family grew up. God bless all of those people who touched our lives in so many positive ways.

There are many wonderful reviews here. I would just like to say that you will not be disappointed in this lovely book. It tells a story that exemplifies the very best in what made America great. I highly recommend it.

In 1941, a girl named Lynne Vincent was born in the Wyoming oil patch town of Caspar, population 18,000 people. "Blue Skies, No Fences" is her extraordinarily honest and highly readable memoir of her youth in Caspar, up through her departure for college.

"Blue Skies, No Fences" is told in two directions. In one direction, Lynne provides the chronological story of her childhood and teenage years in a small town where everyone knows, or knows of, everyone else, and young people's lives are shaped by their parents, teachers, and friends. Lynne Vincent pulls no punches in her narrative; family and friends are described fully, warts and all, as is the era of the 1940's and '50s. Lynne Vincent was fortunate enough to be born a gifted child, and even more fortunate to encouraged to develop those gifts by the adults around her as she grew up.

The second direction of the story is Lynne Vincent's tracing of her family roots back to Europe, and the progress of her ancestors through generations and jobs to the town of Caspar. This portion represents some significant amount of research, and while it can get hard to follow, it is worth the effort.

Towards the end of the book, the man who would become Lynne Vincent's husband makes his appearence. This young man, quiet, intelligent, hardworking, and athletic, would attract her interest in high school. The closing chapters are about their friendship, their dates, and their senior prom. As it turns out, the young Dick Cheney was only one of several of Lynne Vincent's classmates at Caspar who went on to make their mark in the world.

"Blue Skies, No Fences" is very highly recommended as a well-written and thoughtful capture of a time and a place.

Lynne Cheney does a great job of capturing the feelings and atmosphere of the 1950s. She has a good memory of people and events, which are woven into a story that reads like a novel.