Robert L Bingham

Growing Up Lansdowne Robert L Bingham

Growing Up Lansdowne is a photo-illustrated account of the author's childhood and adolescence in the mid to late 1950s and eventful 1960s in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, a conservative Philadelphia suburb. The book is composed of 171 diverse essays depicting growing-up years in Lansdowne. Eight sections titled "Random Remembrances" record dozens of additional recollections. Assorted photographs are included to accent the narrative. The book is part memoir, part social landscape, part local/national history, and part love story. The recollections reflect candor and vulnerability, and at times they are surprisingly personal. Essays present balanced portraits of family and community life and the general era without resorting to enhancement or exaggeration. By its very design, Growing Up Lansdowne compels readers to make personal comparisons with their own hometowns and upbringing. The text touches upon memorable historical events and sensitive social issues of the times, and their impact on adolescent transition to adulthood.