The Lucky Generation - by Allen F Davis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Lucky Generation: Growing up in Depression and War; a Memoir is a book about memory and history and about the way they intersect and sometimes conflict. It is about growing up in the 1930s and ' 40s in Hardwick, a small town in Northern Vermont, caught between the old ways and the emerging modern world. It contains both a provincial story and a universal experience; a personal story and the story of a generation. This is a book about food and material culture, movies and radio, dancing and baseball. Finally, it is about breaking away from small-town ways into a world shaped by Depression and War.

Review Quotes

"Hardwick, a rural, northern Vermont town of about 2,700 people in the throes of The Depression, was where and when Allen Davis grew up. His memoir, The Lucky Generation, focuses on his first 10-15 years. The book is a delightful, detailed story that draws out the strength of family and community, which gave him the foundation he needed to venture into the world and to return with comfort and knowledge the lessons of his youth remain relevant today. The book is a pleasure to read." --Ross Connelly, Editor & Co-publisher The Hardwick Gazette, 1986-2017

"An absorbing account of one boy's growing up, filled with fascinating details of small-town life, Because of the depth of detail, The Lucky Generation will endure as a valuable contribution to the historical record of twentieth-century Vermont." --Dona Brown, Emerita Professor of History, University of Vermont

"Twice this book scores major successes. Not only does Allen F. Davis depict the generational experience of being a lad during the Great Depression and World War II, he also provides the best account of a small-town Vermont boyhood since Robert L. Duffus of the New York Times wrote his two coming-of-age classics: Williamstown Branch (1958) and Waterbury Record (1959). Move over Rob Duffus and make space for Allen Davis from Hardwick, Vermont." --Charles T. Morrissey, Oral Historian and former Director of the Vermont Historical Society

"A master storyteller, Allen Davis teaches us that every life, every memory, and every object is a portal to the American past. His story invites us into the experience of growing up in small town Vermont, revealed with keen insight into the currents of American history that shaped the rising generation of the Great Depression and World War II." --Charlene Mires, Professor Emerita of History, Rutgers-Camden

"Allen Davis' idyllic Vermont boyhood vividly captures an aspect of America that most of us only imagine. Like the objects, photographs, and memories it brings to life, this book is a treasure." --Alice Kessler-Harris, R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of History, Emerita, Columbia University, author of A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman

About the Author

Allen Freeman Davis was born and grew up in Hardwick, Vermont. His parents owned the general store his grandfather built. He graduated from Hardwick Academy in 1949, and from Dartmouth College in 1953. He earned an MA from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in American Intellectual History from the University of Wisconsin in 1959. He is the author or editor of a dozen books including American Heroine: The Life and Legend of Jane Addams, Still Philadelphia: A Photographic History, Generations: Your Family in Modern America History, and Postcards From Vermont. He taught American History at the University of Missouri and Temple University in Philadelphia. He was visiting professor at the University of Texas, and he held the John Adams Chair in American Civilization at the University of Amsterdam. He has lectured widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia. He is an elected member of the Society of American Historians, and the former president of the American Studies Association. He lives in Philadelphia, but he spends summers at the Davis family camp on Caspian Lake in Greensboro, Vermont, only seven miles from where he was born.