Sometimes looking back to the past can not only help with personal growth, but can also be a lot of fun. This week we are highlighting some of our favorite #ThrowbackThursday books that take place in different decades of the last century.

20s/30s

The Sorting Room by Michael Rose

In Prohibition Era New York City, ten-year-old Eunice Ritter finds work in an industrial laundry sweat shop to help provide for her injured brother and alcoholic father. There she finds solace from Gussie, an older and powerful hard-working woman. Following her story as she grows up and becomes pregnant at sixteen against her will, this story shows a captivating tale of a woman’s struggle and perseverance in reconciliation and redemption.

50s

The House Children by Heidi Daniele

Based on a true story, Mary Margaret Joyce is born into the Tuam Home for unwed mothers in 1937. After moving to an industrial school and given the name Peg, her only respite was an annual holiday with a kind family in Galway. At the age of thirteen, Peg learns the identity of her mother, and she grapples with anger and abandonment while her mother grapples with shame of her being born out of wedlock.

Alphonse by Carl Sever

Alphonse is a kind soul who has spent the past twenty years on the rails. When he helps the Sadlers, a young couple trying to find a better life in a small Indiana town, he ends up leaving the rails to keep a close eye on the young family and a suspicious eye on the town’s new priest, Father Brennon. He and the Father have a history on the rails, and Alphonse hopes to stop him before his worst fears come to pass.

60s

The Journalist by Jerry A. Rose and Lucy Rose Fischer

Jerry Rose is a young journalist and photographer in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, where his interviews with Vietnamese villagers cumulated into the first major article to be written about American troops and the secret beginnings of the War. Written by his sister, this story discusses his entire true story from his journalism in Vietnam to his close friend Phan Huy Quat, the Prime Minister of Vietnam, asking him to become an advisor to his government.

Engineering a Life by Krishan K. Bedi

Krishan Bedi came to the States from a small village in India in December of 1961 at the age of twenty with only $300 in his pocket. This memoir follows his journey of trying to find his way as he adapts to the culture shock of being a Punjabi man in the 1960s South and his determination to get a US education. It is a story about values, the importance of friendship, hard work, and how you end up where you’re supposed to be—even if it is off your plotted course.

70s

Attachments by Jeff Arch

A deathbed request from the dean of a boarding school in Pennsylvania brings three former students back to campus to reconcile secrets and betrayals that directly affect the dean’s eighteen-year-old son. In alternating perspectives and time frames, it tells the story of Steward, Sandy, and Laura, who met in school in 1972 where they established deep relationships with each other and the notorious fatherly dean.

80s

Behind the Red Veil by Frank Thoms

Frank Thoms, a US citizen, went to the Soviet Union to learn instead of judge amidst the Cold War in the 1980s. He spent his initial twenty-five years there as a teacher, where he learned about Marxism, Russian history, and Soviet Communism. By travelling from 1985 Russia to the new Russia in 1994, three years after Gorbachev’s resignation, Thorne watches as Russia changes around him. This is the story of how the people of Russia opened their hearts to Frank, and how he opened his own heart as well.

Forks, Knives, and Spoons by Leah DeCesare

The final lesson that Amy York’s father sends her off to college with is this: There are three kinds of guys: forks, knives, and spoons. Beginning in 1988, their freshman year at Syracuse University, Amy and her skeptical roommate Veronica meet an assortment of different utensil guys while trying to learn if the Utensil Classification System holds true. On their quest to find their perfect “steak knives,” they learn to believe in themselves and to never settle in love or in life.