Look Back and Cheer: The Legacy of Small Towns and a Small School As Seen Largely Through the Lives of the Last Senior Class of

Take the roof of our pleasant homes, says one woman in this history, and we'd see a lot more trouble than we knew about. In the mid 1950s the runaway best selling novel Peyton Place and the sensational movie Blackboard Jungle warned that American values and reality were very different. More than 50 years later LOOK BACK AND CHEER suggests that despite some hidden horrors, small town American values and schools launched young people on successful lives. This book traces the legacy of one community, Sea Cliff, NY, through the lives of some 100 members of the last class to graduate from its small K-12 school. The narrative is built on letters, journals, interviews and the author's own experience in that class. Many of the class members tell their own stories of how they went to war, raised families, built careers, struggled with divorce and sickness, and survived to enjoy the memories. Readers will find new insights into the nature of growing up, the role of education and teachers, and especially how we learn not only in school but from everyone around us. "Growing up is learning."

Wallace Kaufman’s observations of American life have appeared in many national and international publications. His books include a memoir of life in the woods with his daughter, a lay reader’s guide to home values, a history of the environmental movement, and a natural and social history of American beaches. Besides writing, Kaufman has also been an adviser to businesses and government in Russia and Central Asia. He was resident adviser for housing and land reform in Kazakhstan and has traveled widely in the vast wilderness areas of Siberia. He is based in western Oregon where he also has a practice that provides community mediation focused on land use, real estate, business and finance.