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HomeShop at BookSurgeJuvenile FictionScience Fiction, Fantasy, MagicLooking Back: Nebraska Lessons and Legacies |
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2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
COMMENTS ON LOOKING BACK, NEBRASKA LESSONS & LEGAIES May 03, 2008
By Donald L. Mallick
Janice Marrett does a fine job of taking us back through a period where the strength and soul of our Nation was being solidified by hard working immagrants who had come to this "Land of Opportunity" She does this by relating to her family and ancestors; but, it could have, and did happen to many of the families across this great country.
I could relate to and found many similarities in my history and family during this period. Janice's blending of her family history into the history of our country made it extra interesting to me. I am about one generation ahead of Janice, but the stories and recollections ran true.
Although this story might seem to relate to the "Older Generation" today, I think the younger generation would enjoy and benefit from this "Walk Through History". This story of a solid Nebraska Family somehow reflects the foundation of what our country is built on. I really enjoyed the trip.
Don Mallick, NASA Test Pilot, Retired
Author of: THE SMELL OF KEROSENE, A Test Pilot's Odyssey
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Compelling Story of Trial and Triumph Oct 07, 2011
By GuyLumbago
I just finished reading Janice J. Marrett's fine story of early Nebraska farm life through the eyes of her ancestors who lived it. I enjoyed the book immensely! It evoked so many memories of visits to my grandfather's farm in east-central Nebraska as I was growing up in the 1950s. The author's description of the end of World War II brought tears to my eyes. She is a gifted story-teller. I enjoyed this book immensely and raced through to the end; I was sad when I finished it. This is an extremely well-written and compelling story of one family's struggles and successes from the Civil War, through the Dust Bowl, through the Great Depression and into the Second World War. Janice Marrett is the gifted story-teller of a story that deserved telling. She has taken a number of loosely-related facts and woven them into whole cloth. She has written down for posterity her family's history, and in the process she took me back to my own Mid-western roots.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Echos of Willa Cather -- Issues Vitally Relevant Today May 18, 2008
By M. Naish
Reading Willa Cather as a graduate student, I was aware of how little she idealized the lives of the Germans and Swedes and others who settled in Nebraska and mid-western states and worked the land on farms both big and small. And now I know why! Janice Marrett's "Looking Back", a memior of her immediate and extended Nebraska family, recounts so vividly in "real" life the hopes, successes, and hardships of the immigrants and pioneers that Cather's novels memorialized. But "Looking Back" also does something else. It revisits the history of the depression & the dust-bowl years, and the actions that President Franklin Roosevelt took to stabilize the country during a time when the United States was in such desperate need of visionary, forceful and courageous leadership. Today, when food is not only politicized, but scarce for many, if not most, of the world's people, "Looking Back" connects us with the hopes of farmers world-wide. It reminds us that what we often think of as an "American dream" is of course a universal desire to feed one's family and build flourishing communities and countries, where abundance is the norm, not the exception.
 A wonderful memoir Dec 16, 2011
By Carolyn J. Harrison
"charrison"
What a wonderful way to get a history lesson! I found myself fascinated with Janice Marrett's family, and most particularly her mother and aunts. The goals and rewards of education were highlighted throughout the book; and I found myself very moved by the tale of how Izeyl (Janice's mother), the youngest of six daughters, was denied the opportunity to go to college. I just felt devastated for her. I also gained a greater understanding of what it must have been like to live through the Great Depression and the two World Wars.
No doubt this book has been a treasure for Janice's family, but it is a also wonderful read for anyone who enjoys memoir and historic nonfiction.
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