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The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! Paperback – October 12, 1974

4.5 out of 5 stars 192

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The Good Old Days—were they really good? On the surface they appear to be so—especially the period to which this term is most often applied, the years from the end of the Civil War to the early 1900’s. This period of history has receded into a benevolent haze, leaving us with the image of an ebullient, carefree America, the fun and charm of the Gilded Age, the Gay Nineties.

But this gaiety was only a brittle veneer that covered widespread turmoil and suffering. The good old days were good for but the privileged few. For the farmer, the laborer, the average breadwinner, life was an unremitting hardship. This segment of the populace was exploited or lived in the shadow of total neglect. And youth had no voice. These are the people, the mass of Americans, whose adversities this book attempts to chronicle.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

plains 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 Back Cover

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House (October 12, 1974)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0394709411
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0394709413
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.02 x 0.63 x 9.16 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 192

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Otto Bettmann
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
192 global ratings
Very interesting and easy to read
5 Stars
Very interesting and easy to read
Great book but arrived new with a bent cover (creased too).
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2020
Two or three page fact filled descriptions of what the Good Old Times were like. Super interesting. The filthy streets in the city, child labor and lost fingers, depression on the prairie. I read sections to fifth graders who loved to squirm and be amazed or laugh. Great little history book for kids at home ages 10 or up. They will read and learn a lot. Many great ways to start a conversation on American history. Adults love it too. Those terror school kids that threw rocks at their teacher. I would recommend to anyone interested in what it was really like in short sections with great drawings. You will share something YOU learned soon after just a few stories!
6 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2022
I first came across this book at a Chinese restaurant in Scottsdale,Az. The Pink Lotus. We were moving to Surprise, Az and I didn’t get to finish it as it was in their restaurant for customers to read while waiting for their orders. Well this was my very first purchase from Amazon. You will find yourself rereading this book many times. I will not divulge the content of this wonderful read. Purchase and enjoy this book.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2014
This is a look at what life was really like before the current level of engineering and technology. Are you concerned about the emissions from cars and trucks, and wish that we could return to horses and buggies? Then think about crossing streets covered in a thick layer of manure! And it wasn't just horse manure: "The pig in the city was a paradox---an element of rural culture transposed to urban life. Pigs roamed the streets rooting for food, the stink from their wastes poisoning the air. Because they ate garbage, the pigs were tolerated to a degree in the absence of adequate sanitation facilities. ..."

Don't think that by just staying off the streets you could avoid it : "During dry spells the pounding traffic refined the manure to dust, which blew 'from the pavement as a sharp, piercing powder, to cover our clothes, ruin our furniture and blow up our nostrils.'"

But perhaps you feel that this was mitigated by the availability of wonderful "organic" meat and produce; after all, chemical fertilizers and pesticides were virtually unknown in those days. "In the absence of electric refrigeration, perishable goods were subject to the whims of the weather. Meat and fowl for sale were simply hung on racks or placed on market counters. The New York Council of Hygiene reported in 1869 tha the foods thus displayed 'undergo spontaneous deterioration...becoming absolutely poisonous..."

Nor were folks in the country spared from the misery, as the book illustrates. Get a copy and read about this and a lot more. You will be glad that you are living now and not then, our current problems notwithstanding.
28 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2008
I have to laugh at those reviews who seem so defensive about the merits of 19th century America. Being a younger nation with vast areas of wilderness and rough frontier, Americans have always felt culturally defensive with what was viewed as the "mother country" as well as the rest of "snobby" Western Europe. The Industrial Revolution had a head start in Europe/Britain - Problems generated with more people in a smaller area sometimes occur there first but lead to solving problems that Americans take longer to feel the effects of. European cities faced some of the same squalor and not all immigrants found the promised land here. Today, we continue that defensive attitude..example Because we generally have had cheaper gas, we have neglected public transport, conservation, and energy smarts until recently.. In some ways Europe is ahead of us in many aspects of those issues. Unpatriotic NO.. Hoping the US would wake up and stay cutting edge. YES

Yes we are a nation of immigrants but we also have a long history of those already here looking down on the newest wave of citizens, especially if they are culturally different. The US has always had a confict between ideals and reality. We aren't perfect, never were and are still looking to perfect the system. This book is NOT meant to be a scholarly read but many of the sources are primary ones from US publications and give one pause. Critics with blinders on prove that we continue to repeat the past in some ways as some issues in the book are nothing new they just reappear in different ways. One critic referred to "polluted beaches" we have them now!!! I used this book in my classroom as most US History general texts have minimal space to present the full story. Their surface survey leaves little room to explore the richness of the human condition and the stories of ordinary people which is always the most interesting and easiest to relate to .
9 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2016
One of the most important books of our time. Changed my life back when I read it in the mid-1980s and even more relevant now that so much of politics is driven by this belief that the old days were the best. They were very, very different than they are perceived today, and were very, very awful in many ways. Lest you think regulations on food safety, traffic, water, labor and more are onerous government intrusion, get a copy of this and ask if you want to live in that sort of world instead.

Delightfully written, and snack sized for anyone. A series of chapters with little 1-2 page articles (and being Mr Bettmann of the actual Bettmann Archives, illustrated with contemporary examples supporting the text) on each topic. Great bed-time reading for anyone. Happy dreams!
10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Talismann
5.0 out of 5 stars Polemischer Report
Reviewed in Germany on October 7, 2019
Ein sehr polemischer Report über die Zeit nach 1990. Leider wurde es nichts mit einem besseren Sozialismus- wohl auch Dank Gorbatschows Verrat an der Idee. Was danach kam ist leidvoll bekannt. Erstaunlicherweise merken die sog. bürgerl. Medien nichts davon und delegitimieren die DDR nach 30 Jahren immer noch, so als wäre von dieser Krieg, Massenarbeitslosigkeit, totale Überwachung (s. NSA und Helfershelfer vom BND), Berufsverbote usw. ausgegangen.
One person found this helpful
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