Those Days

by Richard Critchfield

The author traces the lives of his family members from 1774 to 1941 and shows how they adapted to the events and changing technologies of their periods

Genres: History

Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Richard Critchfield was raised in Fargo, North Dakota. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1953 with a degree in Far Eastern studies and then served in the army in Korea. He received a master's degree from the Columbia School of Journalism in 1957. He taught journalism in India for two years before becoming a foreign correspondent for the Washington Star, most notably in Vietnam from 1964 to 1967. He later turned to writing books, focusing on the changing lives of rural people around the world.

Reviews

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what to say about this one. Parts of it were okay and others were rather dull. It's basically the history of Critchfield's family and sometimes family histories are interesting only within the family itself. It felt like Critchfield spent more time on the early years and sped through the later years, glossing a bit over his father's drinking problem and affair with his office girl. Nothing really spectacular ever happens in the family and it's made up of a combo of oral history and diaries/letters along with bits from local papers. It was an okay read but nothing really exciting happens in the book.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother left this book to me. She said it tied to family, but I didn't remember how and since she was gone I called her brother to find out. He said the author's mother, Anne, was my Great Aunt's (Helen and Mary) sister. Helen and Mary were married to my Grandfather's brothers. Even without this tie, this would have been a very interesting read.

While the book starts in the 1700s with family background the bulk of the book occurs from 1880 to 1940. It covers the life of doctors, preachers, and farmers in Iowa and North Dakota, as the fathers in the book were during this period, and the role women took. It is very descriptive of what life was like and shares all of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) of the time.

My Uncle told me that my Aunts Mary and Helen would not read this book. He said I would have to read the book to see why. I'm amazed that Pat wrote about his father's low points, sharing honestly Jim's dark, not so secret, secrets. I understand that my aunts would not have wanted to read about this and the impact on their sister Anne, but I am surprised they wouldn't have wanted to read the rest of the family history Pat shares in the book. I wish I could visit with them about this. The fact that Pat shared the dark side of his father's life tells me he put it all out there in this book.

In the Epilogue Pat shares what happened following his father's death until his mother's death. He and his siblings led quite extraordinary lives that would have made for more interesting reading. Unfortunately, he did not have the opportunity to write those stories.

Richard (Pat) Critchfield died in December 1994. He was very skilled at obtaining and retelling stories. I wish he was still alive so I could visit with him about this book and hear of his many adventures in gathering stories all over the world.