Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression explores ordinary histories during extraordinary times. Adding living color to the black and white facts about that era, it focuses on how individuals from various walks of life survived and how that survival shaped their lives.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Stories are the lifeblood of our families and communities, connecting us, keeping us whole. This collection of stories about surviving economic hardships is priceless. --Susan Wittig Albert, founder of the Story Circle Network
In this inspirational collection by Robin Edgar, the children of the Depression remember the hard times with nostalgia because they enjoyed a family cohesiveness often lacking in today s comparative good times. --Ellen Scarborough, former reporter/feature writer, The Charlotte Observer & The Fayetteville Times
Robin Edgar has a flair for helping people reveal big histories on a personal level. Her work is informative, the stories are uplifting, and the process is inspiring. --Eric Davis, Director of Production, WTVI
In this inspirational collection by Robin Edgar, the children of the Depression remember the hard times with nostalgia because they enjoyed a family cohesiveness often lacking in today s comparative good times. --Ellen Scarborough, former reporter/feature writer, The Charlotte Observer & The Fayetteville Times
Robin Edgar has a flair for helping people reveal big histories on a personal level. Her work is informative, the stories are uplifting, and the process is inspiring. --Eric Davis, Director of Production, WTVI
From the Author
Going into this project with the ups and downs of our economy in mind, I hoped to discover a few secrets to financial security. During the interviews, I listened for the types of business that succeeded and real estate that retained its value. The wisdom I gleaned from the participants turned out to be something quite different from what I expected. Although I heard good advice about work ethics and sticking to it, the prevailing common thread to survival turned out to be something you could not buy, much less accomplish on your own.
What appeared to hold everyone together through the lean times was more about values than things of value. The ability to survive came from extended families, close-knit communities, and neighborhood churches. I also learned that survival was not about accumulating wealth but, as Katie Grier put it, sharing what you had.
Perhaps, with roots in rural farming, the greater Charlotte area already had established the sense of camaraderie and community, so sharing and watching out for each other was second nature. Even those that lived in the city knew the importance of looking out for others. People everywhere respected each other, particularly their elders.
Of course being practical and learning to do without helped a great deal during that era, too. (Who does not have stories about their parents walking for miles and saving pieces of soap and tin foil?) Although some of the participants advised to avoid spending what you did not have and to save what you can, most of the advice for future generations centered on the importance of family, church and community ties. As they all pointed out, the neighborhoods were small and everyone knew each other. Everyone looked out for one another's children, so there was truly no child left behind.
In our modern society, it appears that this strong sense of community, where everybody knows each other, is being mowed over with rapid growth and bigger-is-better attitudes. I do not know about you but, after listening to these stories from my elders, I am convinced that the best investment I can make is to bank my time and efforts in my family and my community. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
What appeared to hold everyone together through the lean times was more about values than things of value. The ability to survive came from extended families, close-knit communities, and neighborhood churches. I also learned that survival was not about accumulating wealth but, as Katie Grier put it, sharing what you had.
Perhaps, with roots in rural farming, the greater Charlotte area already had established the sense of camaraderie and community, so sharing and watching out for each other was second nature. Even those that lived in the city knew the importance of looking out for others. People everywhere respected each other, particularly their elders.
Of course being practical and learning to do without helped a great deal during that era, too. (Who does not have stories about their parents walking for miles and saving pieces of soap and tin foil?) Although some of the participants advised to avoid spending what you did not have and to save what you can, most of the advice for future generations centered on the importance of family, church and community ties. As they all pointed out, the neighborhoods were small and everyone knew each other. Everyone looked out for one another's children, so there was truly no child left behind.
In our modern society, it appears that this strong sense of community, where everybody knows each other, is being mowed over with rapid growth and bigger-is-better attitudes. I do not know about you but, after listening to these stories from my elders, I am convinced that the best investment I can make is to bank my time and efforts in my family and my community. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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More About the Author
Robin A. Edgar has over 30 years of experience as a professional writer and storyteller. Specializing in profile and lifestyle articles of a positive nature, her work appears in national and regional publications, most recently in The Charlotte Observer, VERVE, and Examiner.com. As a facilitator of writing workshops based on the sense memory techniques in her book, In My Mother's Kitchen: An Introduction to the Healing Power of Reminiscence, she travels throughout the United States as a keynote speaker and workshop presenter for caregiver groups and life writing enthusiasts. Her other books include: Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression and Fantastic Recycled Plastic. To learn more go to www.robinedgar.com.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Stories of Guidance, Wisdom and Self-Worth,
This review is from: Personal Legacies: Surviving the Great Depression Charlotte/Mecklenburg 1929-1939 (Paperback)
Robin Edgar's compilation of remembered histories from those who survived the hardships of the Great Depression gives us a very satisfying look into the memories of those who lived in and around Charlotte and Mecklenburg, North Carolina, during the years of 1929 to 1939.
Realizing that the youngest of these survivors are now in their seventies and that their stories about these years will soon be lost forever if they were not recorded now, Edgar interviewed about ninety people. She edited their comments into stories about their families, their occupations before and after the depression, their lessons for survival and their advice to future generations. They share with us the stories of the grit, determination, and work ethic of the families who lived there during those years and who opened their hearts to those even less fortunate than themselves. Abundant are the stories of loyalty to family and friends during times when even food was scarce. There is recurring mention of feeding strangers who came to the door asking for food. The men patiently waited for the availability of work of any kind, for any length of time. There are repeated memories of mothers using washtubs, washboards, boiling wash pots, bluing and Octagon soap. Families walked to church together and prayed together. Faith and caring for those in like circumstances were the only things remembered by all in abundance. Edgar's experience as a creative non-fiction writer and in teaching reminiscence workshops around the country helped her isolate the heart of twenty-five of these stories of guidance, wisdom and self-worth. The book will serve well to inspire other writers to gather and record their own family or community life stories to share while we still have time. by Peggy Talley for Story Circle Book Reviews reviewing books by, for, and about women
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