It seems like kids are always hearing stories about America in the "good old days": times of nourishing family-style meals, clean air, doctor house calls, respect for elders, safe streets, strict schools, and old-fashioned values like hard work and advancement. But in fact, the so-called "golden years" of the 1950s and 60s were not as stable and carefree as they seem. The ideal housewife bearing a roast to the waiting family at dinner often felt homebound and unfulfilled. The fear of communism and nuclear attack brought on by the Cold War meant that school days were interrupted by air-raid drills, and nuclear bomb testing resulted in cancer and birth defects. As the suburbs grew, so did the number of city housing projects and the level of violence and crime. Women and minorities were restricted from much of public life, and few were encouraged to pursue higher education. Was the pristine world of Dick, Jane, and Spot really as good as it sounds to us now? Through fascinating stories, advertisements, facts, and photographs, Norman Finkelstein invites people of all generations, to decide for themselves. Take fascinating and colorful trip back to the time of TV dinners and tail fins, of variety stores and the Vietnam War, to "the way things never were."