Genealogy Books - Blue Skies, No Fences: A Memoir of Childhood and Family

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Customer Rating:

Summary: Courage and Candor
Comment: I didn't know Lynne Vincent or Dick Cheney when I grew up in Casper,Wyoming. I did know, at one time
or another, many people mentioned in Lynne Cheney's memoir. She has portrayed them accurately, from
the stern Dean of Women at the high school to John and Shirley Gray who operated the best
after-hours joint in town.

In my experience, as both a writer and memoir workshop
leader, if a memoir isn't honest, candid, and courageous, it's just fiction. Cheney's book is
definitely not fiction; it's what a memoir should be - candid, honest, and true. I know. I went to
the same high school, walked the same streets, played in the same parks, shopped in the same stores,
people watched with my parents on the same corner (2nd and Center), and cruised the same drive-ins.
While that may seem to impart an obvious bias, I read Blue Skies, No Fences with a critical eye. The
book did not disappoint me.

Casper wasn't, and still isn't, like anywhere else I've
ever lived or visited. Isolated on the high plains, at the foot of a mountain range, Casper
developed a unique character - half-Western, half-cosmopolitan. A boom town (and occasionally a bust
town), it had an influx of energy, money, and culture that created a "can-do and it's your own fault
if you don't" mentality.

Self-reliance was admired; success was encouraged.
Individuals were judged on their own merit. If people harbored a prejudice, and I remember very few
who did, it took second place to respect for an individual's character and efforts. Harsh winters
and the omnipresent wind bred hardy people who approached life with a certain stoicism laced with
humor. Cheney has deftly captured both the mood and the impetus of Casper in the middle of the 20th
century.

With courage and candor, Cheney has opened the closets and introduced us to
the skeletons. And, those skeletons have emerged as real people, with all their gifts and virtues,
vices and shortcomings revealed.

I believe there are three basic approaches to
memoirs: some write it like it really was; some write it like they wish it had been; some write it
the way they think readers want it to be. Lynne Cheney wrote it like it really was at that time and
in that place, neither glorifying nor exaggerating her hometown.

A carefully written,
well-researched memoir enhances our collective history. It's this history that enables us, and
future generations, to understand - indeed to vicariously experience - the spirit of a place or time
different from the present. Cheney has written a true account that transcends nostalgia and provides
another piece to the puzzle that is our American heritage.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Enjoyable and refreshing
Comment: This book is well written and very enjoyable to read. It is refreshing to read about a time in our
culture when family mattered and community had good moral influence. I appreciate Lynne's focus on
writing books that reflect the values so important to the welfare of our nation.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Wonderfully Written Memoir
Comment: I am not from the West, but after reading this book I have a much clearer picture of why those who
are from the West love it so. Lynne Cheney paints a wonderful picture of what it was like to grow
up in Wyoming. I found it to be an informative and enjoyable read.

Customer Rating:

Summary: An excellent view from the fence line
Comment: Lynne Cheney's self proclaimed "Valentine" to her home town of Casper, Wyoming is truly a
captivating, inspiring and heart warming read.

For those of us in Generation X it is
a detailed view of our parents' childhood - a time when the world encompassed your neighborhood and
being respectful to others - despite race, creed or color - was modeled by all. At times the books
demonstrates how far we have come as a society - the treatment of an unwed mother in the 50's versus
the lessened social stigmas associated today - and how much we have lost since the glory post World
War II days. Television was not the favored tool for rearing children in the 50's, it was the tool
to bring families together to observe national events and celebrations.

Mrs. Cheney's
writing is entertaining and at times quite humerous. It truly shows the 50's were a time that boys
and girls could become whatever they set their minds and hearts too. It is an emotional story where
we can all feel loss for those who are no longer with us.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Lynne describes growing up in the 50's perfectly
Comment: Lynne Cheney just keeps cranking out good books. Her latest, "Blue Skies, No Fences" took me back
to growing up in the 40's and 50's. It didn't matter that we came from different states, the
similarities were amazing. Other than the weather, small Wyoming towns were not much different from
the small, blue-collar Southern California town that I came from. Thanks, Lynne, for reminding me of
a time and place that were simpler, safer, and full of the deep love that came from those who
nurtured us. They might have had different names and faces, but they had the same values and taught
us the same lessons. Anne Walker

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