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MWSA Review
A Look Back in Time is a profoundly personal glimpse into the adolescence of Bernard N. Lee, Jr. The memoir relates events as a military brat in the 1950s, specifically on the family’s first overseas tour in Ansbach, Germany. The author records his fears of being the “new kid” again, the wonder of the German landscape and people, the challenge of learning a new language, and the ups and downs of beginning high school. The friends he makes there have become lifelong ones—their shared experiences embedded in his mind.
Lee touches on the racial unrest within the military during this time and weaves it into the book very successfully. He confides to the reader his teenage insecurities. He reveals his family to us—a father, a no-nonsense career soldier; a sweet mother who encourages her children to excel; and three younger siblings who look up to him. The author brings this family to life while also acknowledging the stresses that all military families endure.
Lee’s memoir is a treasure for generations of his family and an entertaining read for those with similar experiences. Many of the emotions of the young man portrayed in the book are timeless and still felt by military brats even today. Although a few editing errors detract slightly, A Look Back in Time is indeed a heartwarming portrayal of military life.
Review by Sandi Cathcart (April 2020)
Author's Synopsis
A Look Back in Time: Memoir of a Military Kid in the 50s, Vol. II is a fascinating, insightful, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious, chronicle of life while growing up in a military family. Readers will enjoy the stories of life in the fifties, told from a child’s perspective. Through the stories, readers learn the virtues of tolerance, fairness, perseverance, resilience, and other life serving qualities needed for survival in today’s world. These qualities are timeless. Readers, young and old, will recognize these virtues, and themselves, inside the stories.
A Look Back in Time… finds our military kid living in Deutschland, while attending an American middle school and high school. His adventures, with the German and American young adults, are rich in history, suspense, and surprises. You will enjoy the stories of this well-traveled, military kid as he navigates his early teen years in Germany during the fifties.
ISBN: 0-9995576-0-2, ISBN-13: 978-0-9995576-0-0, ISBN: 0-9995576-1-0, ISBN-13: 978-0-9995576-1-7
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 280