Customer Reviews

Days on the Family Farm: From the Golden Age through the Great Depression

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"Days On The Family Farm: From The Golden Age Through The Great Depression" by Carrie A. Meyer (who grew up on an Illinois farm and went on to teach economics at George Mason University) is a memoir based history of life on a Midwestern farm from the beginning of the twentieth century to World War II as recorded in a daily chronicle kept by farm wife May Lyford Davis. The result is an entertaining and informative 'window into time' through which is revealed an American yesteryear when May and her husband Elmo experienced life on a farm through two decades of prosperity, the bleak years of the Great Depression, and the impact of two World Wars upon their Midwestern farming community of friends and neighbors. Articulate, detailed, personable, "Days On The Family Farm" is the story of a farmer's life marked by description of what was bought and sold, the evolution of farming practices and technologies from horse drawn plows to tractors, what was planted and harvested, temperatures and rainfall, births an deaths, even the impact of wind on the work of farming. Simply stated, "Days On The Family Farm" is an engaging and articulate read and a highly recommended addition to any personal or community library collection.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons, but here are the top three:
1) I am fascinated with how energy has transformed societies, and these stories show how farming during the period adapts to increasingly cheap energy.
2) The book shows how real people dealt with the financial changes over the 4 decades period. That was particularly interesting since I read this book in Nov 2008 when everyone is making references to the Great Depression.
3) The book is a joy to read. Carrie Meyer weaves together the simple threads provided in the diaries into a concise and completely satisfying life story.

The author wrote an interesting and well documented family history of a farm family in Rockford, Illinois, during the early 1900s. This book was used as a text for a family history class. The author provided many subjects of interest to stimulate converations. My family was also in Illinois on a farm at this time. Talking with family members, their life is not the same. So, take each family history as that, a history of a particular family and not a sterotype of all farm families in the area. This book is well written, easy to read, and great for general history topics of discussion.

I was fortunate to hear Carrie Meyer give a presentation on this book and immediately bought it. I am now buying extra copies for family members who live on farms in Illinois and Iowa. I grew up on a farm in Central Illinois (roughly 100 miles of the family farm Carrie describes) in the late 1930s. This book has the daily diary from 1900 to 1944. It also has income and expense ledgers for everything they bought and sold. It tells about living on the farm in good and difficult times. Carrie's family is still living on the farm. This is the best book I have seen about life on a farm and how technology changed how farming was done. It is a must read.

I purchased this book for both of my Grandfathers. They both really enjoyed the rich history in these books. I later read it and thought it was a good read.