The Good Old Days- They Were Terrible by Otto L. Bettmann

People have funny ideas about history and the past. Simply because the past is gone, they forget what it was really like, and how it really was. Bad things about the past are forgotten by those who didn't have to live through them.

It happens even today. How many people still think that the world of the 1950's is or was better than today? Despite the fact that there was rampant racism and sexism. If you weren't white, anglo-saxon and Protestant, you'd have a very different, and dimmer view of the 50's.

But the longer time that passes between the past and today, the more people tend to romanticize it. The medieval and renaissance are but two periods that are heavily romanticized, but also the late Victorian to Edwardian period- especially in English nd American society.

But the author, Otto Bettmann, shows how it is wrong to romanticize those times, especially in America, by showing how very horrible it was to live back then. Just focussing on one area of life- that American back then had no air conditioning or window screens, they show the misery that many Americans had to endure- Flies in summer, and smoky, choking stoves in winter. But American houses were not the only things affected. Flies were attracted to milk from cows, and little milk stayed pure for long- if it was ever pure in the first place!

Or take another pastime- swimming in the ocean. In the days before syringes and medical waste being washed up on the beach, that must have been fun, right? Well, there may have been no medical waste or plastic, but that doesn't mean that things weren't being washed up on the beach. Rotting animals, garbage from homes and businesses, animal waste and similar unsavory stuff were what you would find instead. At least medical waste doesn't smell!

Working was no better, and a great deal worse. Without any kind of modern wage laws or limitations on what hours could be worked, Workers were taken advantage of quite ruthlessly. Imagine not being paid in actual cash, but company scrip, only usable at company stores, where the prices are jacked up compared to normal prices you could get for cash. Imagine your house being owned by the company you worked for, and if you were injured on the job, or even killed, not only did your family lose its breadwinner, but the house as well as they were thrown out into the street to make way for another worker. Imagine working in dirty, dangerous or even deadly conditions with no guarantee of survival, and no pension. And if you're hurt or injured, you are reduced on begging to survive.

It's not a pretty picture, and this book should pretty much destroy any romantic inclinations you might have had about that time in history. The hallmarks of every kind of problem, from corruption to pollution to the simple fact that life was a bone-wearying grind for pretty much everyone who wasn't fantastically rich (and very few were), comes clear through on every page.

I enjoyed this book. It's nice to romanticize life, but even better to confront what it was really like to live back then. Because you can look around and truly say to yourself, "Life is really much better now. But what can we do to make it even better?" Because I have no doubt that people are going to look around and say, "How did people live back then? It must have been horrible!"

What sort of world will we be living in when the future comes? Will it be better or worse than how we live now? This book made me ponder that question. Recommended, if you have a strong stomach.