The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! [Paperback]

Otto Bettmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1974

This book explains why the "good old days" were only good for a priviledged few and why they were unrelentingly hard for most. Sobering, actually. Check it out.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This book explains why the "good old days" were only good for a priviledged few and why they were unrelentingly hard for most. Sobering, actually. Check it out.

About the Author

Otto L. Bettmann is the founder of the famed Bettmann Archive in New York, one of the world's great picture libraries. Its resources, some three million prints and photographs, are used all over the world by publishers, educators, ad men and the audio-visual media.

After acting as curator of rare books at the State Art Library in Berlin, Dr. Bettmann came to America in 1935, where he established the Archive and became well known as an expert in the graphic arts.

Among his previous publications are As We Were: Family Life in America, A Pictorial History of Medicine, Our Literary Heritage (with Van Wyck Brooks) and The Bettmann Portable Archive.

He and his wife, an interior designer, live in Pound Ridge, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Random House (October 12, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394709411
• ISBN-13: 978-0394709413
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reality Check - Not "Anti-US" at all, April 7, 2004

By 

Traveler (New England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! (Paperback)

Otto Bettmann's "The Good Old Days - They Were Terrible!" is really kick to the head in terms of establishing reality with folks who think everything was so much better and more simple in the "good old days."

Filled with interesting graphics and drawings, this book covers all the bases from food safety to crime to public education. Barely a sacred cow is left untouched.

I've owned this book for more than ten years and it never fails to catch my interest when I pick it up again. I've also shown it to many of my friends and even given it as a gift.

As for this notion of "anti-US," this seems a bit simplistic. The author's intention seems pretty clear - to establish 19th century America as a pretty dangerous place to live. There are few, if any, comparisons to Europe. It's not intended to be a book about how "bad the US is compared to country X." No, this is about just telling it like it is (or rather, was). Being honest about our past does us no harm. Indeed, it allows us to be become even better in the future. It's called learning from your mistakes. And Bettman's book is an excellent place to start learning.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I remember back in the good ole days........, June 23, 2001

By 

Carlos G. Diaz "losman" (San Antonio, Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! (Paperback)

As a student many of my friends were required to read this book for History class, I myself enjoyed the book so much I bought a copy to keep even though I didn't take the class. Much of the book focuses on letting readers understand what society was like over a hundred years ago and how things we complain about today were just as much a problem in the past. The book features chapters on immigration, health, food, medical care and many other issues of the day.

Many of the chapters will make you cringe as you learn that horses created much more pollution then cars ever did or that meat packing companies often used diseased or sickly cows and pigs. The chapters on education bring light to modern viewers that delinquency and school violence were not unknown and in one instance a young teacher was killed by her on students.

The book features wonderfully drawn illustartions that bring life to the world of our grandparents and how we should be glad to have clean roads, safe food and laws to protect consumers from fraud and deceit. A great book that all students should read and enjoy

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Owning This Book Is Like Owning Your Own Time Machine, September 19, 2001

By 

Joseph L Burke - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! (Paperback)

I am addicted to stories about time travel and I have a collection of them. This book is wonderful in that, instead of sentimental twaddle, conjecture, and picturesque rose-colored-glasses stories of the past, you really get to know what times were like in "The Good Old Days' - and - you'll thank your lucky stars that you are living now and not then. I was fascinated and horrified at the details of everyday life a century ago. I don't know how the people of that era survived and I now know why a lot of them didn't. A real eye-opener!!