Once Upon a Time: The Way America Was

Eric Sloane is an American Icon. He captures New England lore and exposes how the roots of today's culture in rural areas is still deeply rooted in the resourceful traditions of the colonial settlers. His drawings and language bring it to life vividly. Can't recommend any of his books highly enough! This is an excellent one to start with if you're new to him. This would also be good for an older child with an interest in country life (upwards of 10 years) due to the large amount of illustrations. The book is almost a work of art in itself. Would be lovely in a guest room!

I couldn't begin to touch on how fantastic all Eric Sloane's books are. They give you a magical window into America's everyday people and how they lived what they made and used...I absolutely love his books, I think I'm only missing 2 or 3 books to own his entire works. I would recomend A "Reverance for Wood" and "Vanishing Landscape" above all his others.

I became curious about the author's work after receiving emailed samples of his charming essays and illustrations from Dover Publications. This is the first of his books that I have read. I suppose from the other reviews I should not take this to be an example of his best work. I did find the book overall to be a worthwhile purchase. I'm very interested in the pioneer days and found his descriptions and drawings of how things were made and done to be quite fascinating. The author also had a real passion for this period in history which comes through in his work and makes the reader appreciate it as well. The one negative thing I have to say about it is that I felt a little like I was being scolded as a person living in modern society as I was reading this book. Like another reviewer said before me, there is a lot of talk about the good old days, and how people have changed for the worse. For example, one statement that I found unfair was the author's claim that the average modern American worker dislikes his job so much, looking forward to retirement, because he has an aversion to hard work. I believe many people are unhappy in their jobs not because of an aversion to hard work, but because of management problems, office politics, or other corporate BS- things I'm sure most pioneers didn't have to deal with. I'm sure there must have been a great joy in working only for yourself, living off of your own land, but in the U.S.A today that is very difficult for most people. The author paints an ideal picture of the old time farmers supplying all of their own needs through the land and the values of thrift and hard work. While I don't doubt that, he fails to cut us modern folk a break by pointing out the things that have changed for us which would make this lifestyle nearly impossible even if we wanted it. I noticed in his introduction he was living in Connecticut at the time. Also living in New England myself, I constantly see small farms that can't survive being sold and developed into residential areas, and it saddens me to see it happen. This books helps preserve the memories of the old farms which deserve to be recorded and cherished. Kudos to the author for doing so. Despite the sometimes scolding tone, I thought it was an above average book, and a good guide to the pioneer time period.

How can I possibly be the first person to review a book this magnificent? I love this book, and anyone with an ounce of curiosity about the past will as well. In here, Mr. Sloane, an antiquarian with a talent for making his love of the past infectious, tells us all about how Americans used to be hard working, efficient and self sustaining, how they made almost everything by hand and from scratch, and how the knowledge of arts and crafts from tool-making to house building, were passed down by word of mouth. On every page the reader learns some delightfully amazing new fact and by the book's end, a sense of enthusiasm and appreciation for our forebears is firmly established. Great illustrations are also a nice plus and the patient reverence Sloane has for this nation as it was two centuries ago bespeaks of sincerity, not empty lip-service. A fine book to read to a child, to look at for its pictures, or one that can teach almost any "grown-up" a thing or two about the ways things were. If you own this book and haven't read it in a while, take a quiet night off and reacquaint yourself with all it has to offer.