Our Kind of People: The Story of an American Family - Hardcover

Yardley, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1555841740 ISBN 13: 9781555841744

Publisher: Grove Pr, 1989

Synopsis

The author looks back on the lives of his parents, recreates the world in which they grew up, and examines the changes brought about during the twentieth century

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

This loving but wry family history by the Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic of the Washington Post focuses on his parents and their Anglo-Saxon Protestant lineage. Bill and Helen Gregory Yardley lived out most of their 50-year marriage in the service of private education, mainly at Chatham Hall, a Virginia girls' school that Bill headed for 22 years. The son depicts his parents' humanity and dignity as well as their flair for book collecting, but he is not silent about foiblesBill's bombast, his "pedigree-dropping" and his preoccupation with the sartorial (an Episcopalian priest, he seemed more concerned with embroidered vestments than with theology). The family's pride in ancestry is understandable: among forebears are fire-and-brimstone preacher Jonathan Edwards, for whom the author is named, and federal judge John Woolsey, whose landmark ruling opened the way for publication of Ulysses. Family minutiae does not make a surefire pageturner, but Yardley succeeds by combining affection with his amused yet sharp eye for detail.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Many personal, family accounts tend to be dull, self-serving, and without a great deal of analysis. In this one, Yardley, book critic for the Washington Post and 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winner for criticism, is able to laugh at himself and his parents, make the reader feel family misfortunes, and still entertain. His is a reader's book, which although not exciting, is often charming. Much of what Yardley relates has happened to us all. Also, Yardley's father was a headmaster at a private girl's school in Virginia, and his experiences produce a setting for many stories. A good selection for public and academic libraries.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Pr
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 1555841740
• ISBN 13: 9781555841744
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 356