On the Home Front : My Mother's Story of Everyday American Life from Prohibition Through World War 2

A Chicago cabdriver shares his mother's charming, homespun tales of history shaping everyday life, defining an era and a generation.

"Did I tell you about when President Harding died? I was nine. August, 1923. We lived on Flournoy Street..."

So begins one of Mary Jo Clark's oral snapshots of her uniquely American life.

Born in 1914 on Chicago's West Side to first-generation Irish immigrants, Mary Jo was the fourth of seven children. Her father Jack was a marble worker, her mother Maude a commercial color artist. Through Mary Jo's endearing first-person accounts, time stands still and we are afforded a privileged glimpse of a world gone by.

Mary Jo's distinctive style animates these touching and sometimes lighthearted stories of family and friends, love and war, school and work. Through her words and images, we are transported to a sun-warmed living room, where we sip tea while sifting through a box of old photos, as our own past plays itself out, sprung from memory like a much-loved song. Arranged thematically and accompanied by family photos of the people and places she recalls, On the Home Front captures unforgettable moments in American history and a mother's cherished memories.