Kindle and paperback
They don't remember 1957. They were a baby.
The Year You Arrived: 1957 is a large-print 70th birthday book by Nancy Whitaker that tells someone born in 1957 about the world they arrived into, walks through the years they remember, and sets 1957 beside the year they turn seventy. It includes a month-by-month almanac, a quiz and blank pages for family memories.
The Year You Arrived: 1957. A 70th Birthday Book of Real Prices, Headlines and Everyday Life: From the World You Were Born Into to the One You Grew Up In
Someone you love is turning seventy. You want to give them something better than a card and a sweater, something that says you thought about their life. But the usual birthday gifts are either generic or gone by Tuesday.
Here is the odd thing about 1957. The person you are buying for was there, and they cannot recall a minute of it. They were a baby. They don't know what their parents paid for eggs, or that their father almost certainly waited in a hallway while they were born, or that the news that fall was Little Rock and Sputnik. This book tells them. A dozen eggs averaged 57.3 cents that year, from a low of 47.9 cents in June to 69.5 cents in October, and those prices were read from the original 1959 government bulletin, not copied from a website.
Then the tone changes. Part II covers the years they do remember, from first memories and the schoolyard to becoming a teenager and leaving home, and it stops explaining and starts asking. Part III puts 1957 next to now, with the arithmetic done properly: prices, wages and life expectancy, adjusted for inflation.
At the back is an almanac, month by month. Turn to their birth month first and you will find what the news said and what prices the government recorded that month. And near the end are blank pages called Your Own 1957. The archives can tell them what gasoline cost. Only they can say what the kitchen smelled like on a Sunday. Sit down with them, let them talk, and write it in. That is the part of the gift your family keeps.
Why is a good 70th birthday gift so hard to find?
- Most gifts are forgettableFlowers fade and gadgets end up in a drawer. A milestone like seventy deserves something they will pick up again.
- Nostalgia books often get the facts wrong1950s prices get copied from site to site until nobody knows the source. People who lived through it notice.
- Their own early years are a blankNobody remembers being a baby, so the world of their birth year is a story they have only heard in pieces.
- Family stories go unrecordedPeople who will never write a memoir will happily talk. Without a prompt, those stories are not written down.
What is inside the book
- 01Part I: The world you arrived intoThe hospital stay, what groceries and cars cost, the house, television, music, sport and the news of 1957, including Little Rock, Sputnik and the Vanguard launch failure.
- 02Part II: The world you grew up inFirst memories, the schoolyard years, becoming a teenager and heading out the door, written as questions that get people talking.
- 03Part III: Seventy years1957 beside the year they turn seventy: prices, wages and life expectancy, with inflation-adjusted comparisons, plus what disappeared and what held.
- 04The year, month by monthAn almanac with the news and the government-recorded prices for each month of 1957. Start with their birth month.
- 05Your Own 1957Blank pages for the memories no archive holds, made to be filled in together.
- 06Do You Know? and the sourcesA quiz with answers for the birthday table, and a full source list for anyone who likes to check.
What happens after they open it?
They turn to their birth month and read what the world was doing the week they arrived. They argue with Part II, because they remember it differently. And if you sit down with them over the blank pages, you leave with stories that were never written down before. It is a birthday present that turns into a family record.
This book is a good fit if
- You are looking for a 70th birthday gift for someone born in 1957
- The person you are buying for likes history, trivia or talking about the old days
- You want a gift that gets a parent or grandparent telling stories
- You care that the facts are sourced and checkable
- Large print matters for the person reading it
This may not be the right book if
- The birthday person was born in a different year. This book is about 1957 only.
- You want a photo book. It is a book of writing, figures and questions.
- You are looking for a global history. It is about life in the United States.
Questions about The Year You Arrived: 1957
What formats is it available in?
It is an English book on Amazon, as a Kindle ebook and as a paperback. The paperback is the easier choice if you want to wrap it and write in the blank pages together.
Who is it written for?
People born in 1957 who are turning seventy, and the family members and friends buying a gift for them. The opening section speaks to the person giving the book.
Is it in large print?
Yes. The book is set in large print throughout, so it is comfortable to read without hunting for glasses.
Where do the facts come from?
Every factual entry has a source listed at the back. Food prices were read from the original 1959 Bureau of Labor Statistics bulletin. Figures that could not be verified were left out, and a few common figures, such as the share of women in the labor force (35.9%, not the often repeated 36.9%), are corrected. Some chart, award and TV rating entries rest on reference works, and the book says so.
How long is it?
Amazon lists a print length of 132 pages for the Kindle edition. It covers three parts, a month-by-month almanac, the blank memory pages, a quiz with answers and the source list.
