Customer Reviews

Going, Going, Gone: Vanishing Americana

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My husband got Going, Going Gone out of the library and read it, I read it, my Dad read it, we all liked it. This book catalogs many of those things our moms, dads and grandparents used or did in daily life that are vanishing through changes in society or technology: carbon paper, rotary phone, garter belts, or mending socks for example. The book describes the things that lead to the phasing out of the old products and methods. The photocopier killed carbon paper for example. The only down side I can see is that the book is too short. My Dad thought it was written from a slightly feminist point of view, but I didn't really notice it. I am writing this review before buying 2 copies for Christmas presents.

The authors provide two to three page essays with a touch of nostalgiaon fifty specific elements of American life in years gone by. Subjects range from the highly tangible (drive-in movies, manual typewriters) to activities (hitchhiking, bridge parties) to abstract social norms (formal dating, parietal rules on college campuses). The strength of the book may well lie in its myriad of photographs that complement each essay extraordinarily well. The topics covered reinforce the fact that the authors are female (feminine hygiene products, white gloves, and mending, to name a few), and the reader will no doubt frequently ask himself or herself "why didn't they include this idea?"

The book was not in the condition described. It was badlly bent and smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. I had planned to give it as a gift to a friend, who doesn't mind used books, but the condition was too poor.