In these volumes, with warmth and gentle humor, the author recalls his boyhood on a farm near Lanesboro, Minnesota in the 1940s. Many of his essays in earlier volumes portray a childhood structured by chores, family, school and church obligations. In addition to depicting everyday life, he reflects on may special events (Minnesota State Fair, holidays, WWII Òair raidÓ practice, car trips) and recreation (radios shows, townball league, fishing on the Duschee Creek, roller skating)
Contemporaries of the author will appreciate the accuracy of his depiction of the 1940Õs living. Younger generations can learn what it was like to live at that time. These memoirs represent a fascinating retrospective into rural life during and after World War II.
His later writings, including this volume, focus on and characterize how his values have influenced his thinking about more contemporary issues and events. They, too, come alive in his writings.