Seasons of America Past

We liked the book because it lays out a lot of the good, old lifestyles and methods that were used in this country that have been lost. Many of the old methods involved much more wisdom and care for the land and our natural resources than we consider today. The old methods seemed to have much more concern for the long term affects on our land and other natural resources. Today's mentality seems to be much more focused on instant gratification.

All of the Sloane books are worth reading and owning. As a boy in the 1960s I was very impressed with the pen and ink drawings, more impressed than with the color paintings. (I still am.) I even built models of some of the buildings for grammar school dioramas. In the 1980s, I bought all the titles that were still in print (or remaindered). Buy the Dover reprints and any other editions you can find before they disappear again. Abebooks.com is a good source for OOP books.

Another one of Eric Sloane's great historical narratives on the development of America with this book focusing on the seasonal nature of farming. Thankfully most of Sloane's books are available as reprints as anyone interested in learning about the American way of life, from 1650 to 1900, will find these books real treasures. The text is straight forward, very informative and shows a reverence for all aspects of American farming, craftsmanship, invention and "common sense". The book is illustrated with great sketches and shows the modern urbanite how the rural Americans survived, thrived and prospered. Any Sloane book is an essential part of a library for those individuals who are feed-up with the urban ratrace and are seeking a simpler, self-supporting, rewarding experience.

"Possibly as a result of long dependence upon strong electric lighting, we seem to have much poorer night vision today than the average man had a century or two ago." It's this sort of historical information that brings the past to life. As a social historian (not accredited, mind you, but I'll go against most any so-called history major), I spend much time and money searching out tid-bits of this type to help give me the understanding of the ways and lives of times past. Seasons of America Past by Eric Sloane is an excellent source of American life in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Taking the reader through a full year of everyday life - month by month - Mr. Sloane shows through his many sketches and fluid writing so many aspects of the lives of our ancestors (including what was most likely considered mundane by those who lived it!) that most supposed historians do not even touch upon. Put into a seasonal order, one will see how each of our four seasons affected the lives of our long past relatives. Here are a few more bits of information strewn throughout this book: "May was once the season for sending May baskets, now a forgotten custom. The first spring flowers were gathered by young girls and left in baskets on the doorsteps for their parents..." "The American farmer...drank cider daily at his table instead of water or milk..." "Plow Monday was the first day after the end of Christmas festivities, when the back-to-work spirit started with getting all farm equipment in shape." "Stump pulling was one of the few cash businesses, and at twenty five cents a stump - the standard price in 1850 - a man could pull twenty to fifty stumps a day and make a most exceptional living." "Independence Day...was first ushered in by bell-ringing and shooting. When Chinese firecrackers entered the scene of Independence Day (in the early 1800's), bell-ringing vanished." "Today the word PICKLE brings to mind a prepared cucumber, but pickle in the old days was a verb that referred to the...process and not to the actual product." 149 pages filled with everyday life of times gone by. Winter clothing, ice houses, broom making, sugaring time, seasonal cooking, wells, farm sleds and sleighs, spinning wheels, gathering of splint wood for baskets, herb dyes and the colors they made, and so much more packed into an easy to read format. With this and other books by Eric Sloane, as well as the wonderful 'Everyday Life' books (such as 'Expansion of Everyday Life') one can almost feel as if they can live in a different time.

No truer words were ever spoken when it comes to summarizing the content of this magnificent book. Eric Sloane describes the seasons of the early American way of life in a most revealing and splendid fashion. Beginning with the month of March: spring - the New Year according to the seasons; Sloane takes the reader through a year full of the sowing and reaping of the harvest in its season.