Customer Reviews

Forgive Us Our Senior Moments

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Atkinson has achieved much with this little book. It's a wonderful collection of essays which harken back to a time when things were different in America. Not for liberals, this book will thrill conservatives of whatever age.

Walter A. Atkinson is brilliant. Not only does he compare the simple life of the 30's, 40's and 50's with wit and the comedic wisdom of a Will Rogers, he makes the comparison with today's society and drives a conservative knive into the heart of the misguided liberal agenda. I loved this book! Atkinson had me rolling on the floor with laughter only to make me stop, reflect and realize that, yes by golly, he's right. How in the world DID we get from there to here? How did it happen in such a short period of time? Even if you can't remember what it was like during a time of elderly respect, manners, REAL movie stars, true heroes, and a grand life style even without credit cards and cell phones, you'll be transported back to those days with many a smile and an occasional grumble. There's another reason I cherish these recollections; BECAUSE I'M IN THEM!

In the [19]40s we were raised on B flicks about war, espionage and westerns . . .
didnt care about dialogue or structure. . . . A sub-plot . . . was either a German U-boat
movie, or subsidence at the cemetery. We didnt know from subtle emotions to
pie-in-the-face. Every spy movie . . . used . . . the same actors to play the same characters.
We never got enough of them. Thus writes Walter A. Atkinson railing against the demise
of yet another sub-culture from his good old days of yore. Forgive Us Our Senior
Moments is Atkinsons first book and he has fun with it. Its one mans interpretation of
America--how it used to be and how it is today. The writing is droll and delightfully
sardonic, with a touch of nostalgic, old-fashioned patriotism thrown in for good measure.
One can almost feel Atkinsons perverse glee as he takes his forty year supply of private
gripes and wisdom pearls and just lets it rip. Truly a volume on senior reflection and
opinionated thought, these essays connect practically every social problem in America
today to a self-proclaimed cultural revolution of the mid-1960s.
Chapters cover ancestors, retirement, sex, music, sports, religion and lots of
politics. On retirement, and a riveting sense of impending doom, Atkinson states, . . . if I
had my druthers, Id be shouting the line Anita ODay was singing with Gene Krupas
band in 1941, . . . just let me off uptown. He talks of family and friends, and adventures
while growing up in a small Pennsylvania community. A whimsical essay on religion looks
forward to year 3001 and the evolved theology of Presleyanity amid the pomp of a world
class event celebrating the 1,024th anniversary of Elvis Presleys death. The religiosity of
all humanity is literally absorbed there in a ceremony of August 16th and a holy pilgrimage
to the sacred city of Graceland, diocese of the Most Holy Apostolic Presleyan Heartbreak
Hotel & Church of America, for the annual observation of Rockabilly Requiem. This
chapter, alone, is worth the price of the book.
The writing is an enlightened citizens wistful return to the Great Depression,
World War II, and the early Fifties--a journey with roots, so to speak--critiquing now . . .
today, relative to more traditional times when America as a different place made a
difference. Atkinsons message will hit home with thousands of seniors who are living out
final days balancing sacred moments of joy and sorrow from the authors aptly described
blue ribbon years, against his inane, do as you please, liberal tripe of the last several
decades. Most will relate to Atkinsons throwback passion for family, country and God,
and his repetitive query, How did America ever get from there to here?
Naturally, as any thesis with a political slant will do, folks of another viewpoint
will be totally bent out of shape by much of the authors intended wisdom. Liberals will be
particularly upset as Atkinson hammers away with gleeful redundancy on foibles at the
heart of their core beliefs--the first and foremost being: Scare the hell out of old folks, and
keep doing it year after year, after year, after year, ad nauseam. He takes certain notable,
liberal politicians to task, citing, where apropos, their public, decadent personal lifestyles,
as well as their innate inability to fool the people-at-large if ever they should be of a mood
to posture as statesmen in public. As Atkinson states in his preface, Where convictions
differ feel at liberty to consider my view a senior moment.