# What are some good books that depict everyday life in different times? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837 "2004-04-07T23:05:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/21 "2004-04-09T04:20:05Z")
This may seem really simple, but when I was very young I read the Little House on the Prarie books. I read them again last year, just to see if they were as good as I’d remembered and I still enjoyed them. There are also books by/about Laura Ingalls Wilder that are written for adults rather than children. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/22 "2004-04-09T04:24:48Z")
> [@lillalette](#): > > _The Land Remember_ by Ben Logan. Non-fiction. It’s about growing up on a Wisconsin dairy farm in the apple orchard area in the southwest part of the state. Quite awesome. Make that _The Land Remember **s** _. ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/23 "2004-04-09T05:04:25Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > John Steinbeck stories take a real look at many aspects of life and human nature. If long novels bore you, try Mice and Men or The Pearl. He has written so much. They are all down-to-earth stories…without need for some crazy pretense. If you want to read something really interesting, read his non-fiction books which are like diaries of his adventures: (a) Travels With Charley and (b) Log from the Sea of Cortez. I would add _Cannery Row_ and _Sweet Thursday_ (though all of his books are great, IMHO). _East of Eden_ (maybe my favorite book ever) is a great look into human nature as well, though it’s not a quick read. _Travels With Charley_ is terrific too, as **Jinx** said. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/24 "2004-04-09T05:22:19Z")
There is a whole series of Writer’s Guide books that discuss all aspects of everyday life in periods like : Elizabethan and Jocobean England The Renaissance Regency And Victorian England The Middle Ages The Wild West [Here](http://www.writerswrite.com/cgi-bin/wwbookstore.pl?storesearch=historical) are some. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/25 "2004-04-09T05:33:38Z")
Anything by Gary Jennings. Historical fiction, his books go into a lot of detail about different countries’ religions, customs, histories, etc. Most if not all of his books have one or more characters traveling to many different countries. He has a lot of his heroes inventing major things, like guns or eyeglasses, which I think is kind of a funny little thing to do. I’m a big fan. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/26 "2004-04-09T10:14:32Z")
I don’t quite get the drift of this. You want a recommendation for a book that accurately describes a time period. How are the readers supposed to know if it is accurate? From the book? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/27 "2004-04-09T11:49:42Z")
\*A Gathering of Days \* by Joan Blos ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/28 "2004-04-09T16:44:05Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I don’t quite get the drift of this. You want a recommendation for a book that accurately describes a time period. How are the readers supposed to know if it is accurate? From the book? Well, either the reader has previous knowledge of the culture depicted in the book, or the book inspired the reader to go learn more about what was written. I’m trying to stay away from books that just obviously throw historical accuracy out the window. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/29 "2004-04-09T16:55:13Z")
Eugene Aubrey Stratton, _Plymouth Colony_. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Milburn_Drysdale)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/30 "2004-04-09T17:09:41Z")
Jacob Riis, _How the Other Half Lives._ ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/31 "2004-04-09T17:11:03Z")
I’m not thinking too fast this morning. Also of possible interest is _Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America_ (American Cultural History, Vol 1), by David Hackett Fischer. It looks (rather exhaustively) at four early immigrant groups: Puritans, Quakers, “Tidewater aristocrats” and Scots-Irish. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/32 "2004-04-09T17:31:26Z")
[\*1066, The Year of the Conquest](http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/11057/mcms.html)\*, is an interesting book about about the battle of Hastings told primarily from the perspective of the commoners. Quite a bit of detail about the everyday reality of life under the feudal system and the relations of the various classes. It does have a pro-English bias which, though I’m not of English descent myself, is just fine by me. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/33 "2004-04-09T17:59:06Z")
Carson McCullers’ _The Heart is a Lonely Hunter_ is set in the American South of the 1930s. While the heart of the novel is about personal things that are probably universal wherever and whenever people go about on two legs (the secret desires and motivations of a variety of small-town characters with diverse personal histories,) there is a lot of material about contemporary social stresses relating to race, class, and sex, and of course plenty of detail on how folks passed the time. It’s also tragic and beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/34 "2004-04-09T18:10:20Z")
I am now reading the excellent, fascinating and amusingly written [Inside the Victorian Home](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393052095/qid=1081533935/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5719732-1684666?v=glance&s=books). I’ve read [Dr. Johnson’s London](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312276656/qid=1081534111/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-5719732-1684666?v=glance&s=books), and am trying to snag a free copy of the author’s upcoming [Elizabeth’s London](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312325657/qid=1081534111/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-5719732-1684666?v=glance&s=books) from the publisher . . . ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837/35 "2004-04-12T19:39:08Z")
[The Red Tent](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312195516/qid=1081798469/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-6513809-1867820?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) is a work of historical fiction about Dinah, a minor figure in the Old Testament, and deals in fascinating detail with daily life during the early Biblical period. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-some-good-books-that-depict-everyday-life-in-different-times/238837.md?page=1)