Publisher's Synopsis
The real-life saga of four generations of a small-town American family, from the "handmade world" of the 18th century to the merchandized, roaring 1920s. In 1967, the authors bought an old house in Hampton, Connecticut. There they discovered the papers of the Taintor family, typical Americans who had lived in the house since the 1790s and had kept complete records of their lives. The Robertsons had found not only a history of their own house - down to who planted the maples in the front yard and when - but a "distant mirror", reflecting how America grew and was shaped by the morals and aspirations of families like the Taintors.;Drawing on the unique resources of the Taintor collection - the only one of its kind - the Robertsons have written about small-town American life: gossip and scandals; economic triumphs and reversals of fortune; attitudes toward sex, love and marriage; the local reverberations of politics and war. James Oliver Robertson is the author of "American Myth, American Reality". Janet C. Robertson is the author of "Journey Home".