The Good Old Days--They Were Terrible! (Paperback)

by Otto Bettmann (Author) "WHEN THE CIVIL WAR ENDED, the American North was fully mobilized for industry, and forests of smokestacks had grown along with its swelling cities..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Gilded Age, Civil War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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.

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.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Random House; fourth printing edition (October 12, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394709411
• ISBN-13: 978-0394709413
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,823 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 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 500 REVIEWER)

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.

28 of 30 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)

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

12 of 12 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 (Bradenton, FL USA) - See all my reviews

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!!