A Once-Told Tale [Paperback]

Deryl R. Leaming (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (July 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413407331
• ISBN-13: 978-1413407334
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,303,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Trip Down Memory Lane, July 27, 2005

By 

Patricia K. Ashley "Reader Leader" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Once-Told Tale (Hardcover)

A well-known author once commented, "You can't go home again." A valid observation, in a sense, but I contend that Deryl Leamng did go home again, as exhibited in his book, and discovered himself.

The book affords the reader not only a trip down Dr. Leaming's "memory lane", but provides incredible insight into the framework of the times. The reader is drawn into the carefree, unsophisticated lifestyle of the author's early years growing up in a small, southwestern Kansas town. We follow him through humble beginnings fraught with tragedy and significant change. Yet, with all the disorder in his young life there is never any indication of resentment or reproach. Quite the contrary, we read about happy-go-lucky times spent with family and friends who appeared to alleviate most of the hardships.

Throughout the book are glimpses of events within the immediate locale as well as the big world "out there somewhere" and how they were relevant in the life of the author. Dr. Leaming begins each chapter with lyrics from songs of an appropriate time period which sets the mood for that reminiscence. He also cleverly inserts a myriad of items at the end of each chapter, which are pertinent to the indicated years, to give the reader a glimpse into the significant contrast of lifestyles then and now.

This "Tale" is definitely one person's story but it goes far beyond that by documenting for the reader the constancy, constitution, and courage of the people of those times in America. I have a feeling that the author took that "trip down memory lane" for self-contemplation and discovery. Very courageous of him!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's the Matter With Kansas?, January 24, 2005

By 

G. Michael Hunt "Comrade_G" (Nashvegas, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Once-Told Tale (Hardcover)

My mom n' dad were dust-bowl babies, so I grew up tongue-lashed about being "spoiled" and how my ungrateful generation didn't know how good we had it.

So I stopped listening to mom n' dad's more-than-once-told tales of how tough life was during the Great Depression. Now, after reading this "One-Told Tale in Three-Part Harmony..." I think I get it. And (to rip off William Allen White) I know "what's the matter with Kansas."

It wasn't all doom, gloom and dust clouds way back in 1930s Kansas. Life was slower -- much sloooooower. People commuted by foot and time was measured in hours, not milliseconds. Health care wasn't terribly advanced, but American butts weren't super-sized, either -- and there were no diseases of opulence like bulimia.

And Kansans weren't whining about abortion clinics or joining the local militia -- they were busy trying to survive. A liberal Democrat named FDR drew their appreciation and "big-government" was almost a term of endearment. The author brings all this into a new light and gives a deeper meaning to today's well-worn phrase of the moment, "family values" -- that when times are hard, we survive by our love for one another.

But this book is not a political rant, it's a memoir, penned (apparently) by someone who lived the tale, and whose heart was warmed (and sometimes hurt) by manifold moments of caring and generosity; moments which transcended the austerity of the Great Depression and the stark, wind-baked plains of Kansas.

2.0 out of 5 stars WRITTEN BY FAMILY, October 29, 2009

By 

Fran Mitchell (BEAVER, OKLAHOMA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Once-Told Tale (Hardcover)

I FOUND IT INTERESTING BECAUSE OF THE FAMILY CONNECTION AND HISTORY. IT WAS REPETITIVE. POLITICAL VIEWS IN LINE WITH COLLEGE AND HIGHER EDUCATORS. I DEFINITELY DIDN'T CARE FOR THE LIBERAL PHILOSOPHY. VALUE THE AUTHOR AND PROUD OF HIM AS A FAMILY MEMBER. AM HAPPY I HAVE THE BOOK. LEARNING TO LIVE WITH DIFFERING POLITICAL VIEWS WITHIN FAMILIES IS NECESSARY AND IMPORTANT.