Book Description

Shadows of Yesterday: One Family's Story, written and edited by Charles G. Hood and Christopher S. Hood, is a richly detailed and intriguing portrait of one family's journey through the twentieth century. Combining biographies of the Hood parents, William S. Hood and Anne M. Hood, with personal recollections of childhood and early adulthood written by the six Hood children, the authors provide a fascinating series of vignettes that tell the tale of this typical American family. From Fairmont, West Virginia, to Carmel, Indiana, and eventually to Pickens, South Carolina, the family timeline cuts across many geographic locales and features an abundance of both triumphs and tragedies. Perhaps the most difficult loss was the premature death of the father, William S. Hood, and this unfortunate occurrence is described in the most intimate of terms by the surviving children. Other more joyous family events, such as the holiday traditions, the family pets, vacations, and other blissfully innocent memories of youth, are intertwined into poignant narratives that even those readers who do not know the authors' family may enjoy perusing. The book concludes with a description of the later years of the surviving mother, Anne M. Hood, as she carved out a new life for herself and her children, and ultimately, as she faced her own demise with grace. The book is a product of nearly three years of intensive research with surviving family members and friends, review of old letters, cards, and photographs, viewing of reels of family home movies, and travel to the many old neighborhoods that were once called home. Written in loving memory of William and Anne Hood, Shadows of Yesterday: One Family's Story is a compelling narrative of those youthful remembrances that all of us carry into adulthood; to those whose sense of nostalgia carries them back in time to a simpler and often happier era, the book is further dedicated. Charles G. Hood and Christopher S. Hood are also co-authors of a companion book published earlier this year by Xlibris entitled, Returning to Our Roots: The Long Journey Home, which stands as a more dispassionate genealogic work. It details the earlier family history and dovetails nicely with the more recent and personal stories contained within this book. Read together, the two books offer a wealth of information about a group of extraordinary people leading ordinary lives in the United States.