Timely post. My Father (80) is in the process of publishing a book titled "Dear Mom: Letters Home From a Diplomatic Courier 50 Years Ago."
Basically his Mother kept all the letters/postcards (~700) he sent home during his time traveling the World with the State Department. He recently began digitizing them to compile a book. It is almost a re-life Forest Gump story...a man in Moscow at the height of the cold war; being in Vietnam 6 years before the War and seeing the stage being set; camping in the Himalayas watching Chinese aggression against Buddhism; commenting on Black Churches being bombed in the South back home, etc...But really what is most striking is we think communication has changed so much in 50 years (internet, social media) but there is no doubt what we communicate is otherwise unchanged, like OP students requesting money in the middle ages.
These are wonderful! Your dad was quite the ladies' man too. I love the depiction of the Bengali princess: "...I doubt if she realizes that there are a group of people on earth who actually work and it is this which makes the world go around. She floats endlessly in her world of art, poetry, and creativity... It will be a considerable relief when this girl has returned to London and I can become rested again..."
Would he mind a suggestion on the title? If this book is as good as the letters you shared, people will be reading it 10, 20, 30 years from now. So "50 Years Ago" is a bit of a moving target. Not sure if it would be an improvement to just mention the actual decades in the subtitle, or a reference to the events of the time, or maybe just leave out the "50 Years Ago" entirely since as you noted this is really timeless. Just food for thought.
These look great - I would have loved to do what he did. I've done quite a lot of travel and lived overseas but there is something very interesting about doing it in a diplomatic function watching the local history happen.
On the link you posted I just read the first article - and its dated Jan 5 1960. Are you sure its not 1961 - in the letter he says 1961 is on its way.
Maybe I will set up a landing page with some sample letters and submit an HN post...but its nice to think others would have interest outside immediate friends/family.
My father in law is in his eighties and served as a Swedish diplomat in Moscow in the 1960's (among other places). I know he too would love get a chance to read some of those letters.
man his writing is very addictive.
I hope you'll post about his book once it's out!! With all the noise out there, I hope it gets some serious attention.
Yeah, he's a good writer; the ones I've read breathe with life. And he's got a nice turn of snark too, low-key but pointed. I'm British, I appreciate that!
Great stuff. And clearly your father predicted the future in 1965:
>>While everything looks so bright for 1965 in America, it is very moving to see a country, or live in a country, where everything will deteriorate further during the year to come. Hardships on the average man will increase, prices will rise, unrest will continue, and more human freedoms will be turned over to the central government, who in turn will botch up things even more. It is a pathetic situation here.
"The city is expensive and makes many demands; I have to rent lodgings, buy necessaries, and provide for many other things which I cannot now specify."
The list of bars and parties a student has to attend before graduating grows too long to be put on a letter.
As a kid, every time I tried to hoodwink my father into bogus school supplies expenses he would recite this joke about a medieval student sending a letter to his uneducated father.
After some platitudes similar to the ones in the article, the punchline was more or less like this (loses a bit in translation):
"Three books I have to buy: Marcus, Tullius and Cicero. At three royals each, nine royals I need".
The response was:
"Marcus Tullius Cicero is one book. Here I send five royals, so you can send back two".
"you can scarcely imagine how expensive our text books are. Having tried to save some money through the purchase of a second-hand edition of Euclid's Elements, I am at risk of failing that class. The only change is that for this year's edition for some reason all the postulates have been renumbered, making it impossible for me to use the text in class."
I can't help but wonder if one day people will be looking at how adorable ancient programmers were in the 2000's with their "monitors" and "smart phones."
Yeah that's the one I was referencing. Ceres is also the goddess of agriculture and grains, so I figured he was asking for beer (Ceres) and wine (Bacchus).
Although your interpretation of Ceres would make this a much more interesting thing to write home to dad about.
That's the Eustache Deschamps one. The first one, which the article doesn't attribute and doesn't claim is imaginary, also makes a veiled reference via Bacchus, though.
You have to keep in mind that in the time period in question beer or weak wine was what you drank when you were thirsty a lot of the time. Safe drinking water was hard to come by.
You had to call your parents and wait at the post office? How old fashioned! Today my parents can just look at my credit card bill online and decide if they want to pay for any expenses.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous, chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
Basically his Mother kept all the letters/postcards (~700) he sent home during his time traveling the World with the State Department. He recently began digitizing them to compile a book. It is almost a re-life Forest Gump story...a man in Moscow at the height of the cold war; being in Vietnam 6 years before the War and seeing the stage being set; camping in the Himalayas watching Chinese aggression against Buddhism; commenting on Black Churches being bombed in the South back home, etc...But really what is most striking is we think communication has changed so much in 50 years (internet, social media) but there is no doubt what we communicate is otherwise unchanged, like OP students requesting money in the middle ages.
For those with interest here are a few letters, interested to hear the reaction of anyone outside friends/family: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wudj58edm2fjqd9/AAAQuGGfqE61orF5a...