When the Century Was Young

by Dee Brown

The author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee describes his life from his first job as a delivery boy and his adolescent career in mail-order fraud, to his stint in journalism and his participation in World War II. Reprint.

Genres: Memoir, Biography, American History, History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

AKA: Dee Alexander Brown

Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown (1908–2002) was a celebrated author of both fiction and nonfiction, whose classic study Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is widely credited with exposing the systematic destruction of American Indian tribes to a world audience.

Brown was born in Louisiana and grew up in Arkansas. He worked as a reporter and a printer before enrolling at Arkansas State Teachers College, where he met his future wife, Sally Stroud. He later earned two degrees in library science, and worked as a librarian while beginning his career as a writer. He went on to research and write more than thirty books, often centered on frontier history or overlooked moments of the Civil War. Brown continued writing until his death in 2002.

Reviews

[Don Zabriskie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal History of Much of the Twentieth Century

This is a brief autobiographical account of Dee Brown the author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. His style is anecdotal, with little concern for gaps in chronology, but a variety of fascinating stories with ample doses of humor. It is well worth the time to get acquainted with a librarian who really was much more than that.

[Jeff Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written memoir of growing up in the early 20th century. Brown shows how his childhood played a role in his development as a Western historian

[Ivan Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and enchanting read, especially regarding the author’s early years growing up. The middle section regarding his military years was informative albeit less intriguing, but the last portion of the book regained my attention and fondness. Worth reading for sure.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I picked up this book, I intended to read just the last chapter, which describes an amusing escapade in which my father and Dee Brown wound up sleeping in an antique bed in a museum exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden. That chapter was so entertaining that I went back and read most of the rest of the book and found that Dee Brown was a master at spinning engaging yarns while weaving in fascinating details about bygone times. The chapters recounting his experiences hopping freight cars and pulling Halloween pranks as a teenager in the 1920s were nostalgic without being maudlin, and the chapters about his adventures as a would-be typesetter and cub reporter were filled with details that made me truly appreciate how far printing technology has come in the last century. There's also an interesting chapter about Dee's time serving in the short-lived Army Specialized Training Program--which was designed to train highly intelligent recruits in fields such as linguistics and psychology during WWII--as well as a very topical and harrowing look at Dee's stint working with classified documents at the Aberdeen Proving Ground after the war. (Truly the more things change, the more they stay the same!)

[Darla Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astonishing book! And this is just the kind I am perpetually looking for. I just wish it had been longer...the author has the most interesting and impacting memories of a time that is almost forgotten by actual living persons. We can really only read about these kinds of nostalgic inventions and American events.

[Kenton Erb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read

[Babs M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Dee Brown and loved reading about his early life and how his love for the history of the American West developed.