The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

US: Crown Publishing Group, 2007. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English languag e, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 19 50s Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century--1951--in the mi ddle of the United States--Des Moines, Iowa--in the middle of the largest g eneration in American history--the baby boomers. As one of the best and fun niest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a t otally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of hi s generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a sup erhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old f ootball jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that ser ved as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing a wful evildoers (and morons)--in his head--as "The Thunderbolt Kid." Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality--a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother,