Always the Young Strangers

by Carl Sandburg

Book Overview

Born in 1878, Carl Sandburg grew with America. As a boy he played, studied, and matured in Galesburg, Illinois. Sandburg's reminiscence delivers a nostalgic view of small-town life and an invaluable perspective on American history. Index.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0156047659
• ISBN13: 9780156047654
• Release Date: November 1991
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 456 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

The Prairie Boy Returns to Western Illinois

What can you say about Always the Young Strangers, other than it reads as well in 2004 as it did in 1953. Sandburg's look at his boyhood in Galesburg, Illinois has all the elements of opening a time capsule and looking back at the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I am most fascinated by Sandburg's relationship with the Krans family who lived outside of Galesburg on a small farm. The respect that Sandburg accords the Krans' sturdy immigrant spirit permeates the entire book. Read the description of John Krans' death at the end of the book. It brought tears to my eyes. Sandburg's shakey relationship with his father also attracted me to the book since I had the same type of relationship with my dad. August Sandburg never appreciated his son's writing talent. It took the mother, Clara, to nurture her son's mighty pen. When I worked there in the 1970's, natives of Galesburg would tell me how much Sandburg hated the city. Always the Young Strangers tells a much different story. The love that Sandburg had for Galesburg and western Illinois jumps off the pages of this book. What a great read!

Always the Young Strangers Always a Good Read

Carl Sandburg's Always the Young Strangers is not a new book but that is what makes it such a compelling read. In an era marked by the popularity of the memoir, Sandburg's tales of growing up in Galesburg, IL at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s allow the reader to hear a distinctive voice no longer with us speak again. This is not any ordinary voice either but voice of a poet clearly in love with words. Though his boyhood stories are simple, they are rich with detail that allow us insight into Sandburg's future as a poet and as a most notable biographer of Abraham Lincoln--in it, for example, Sanburg recalls attending a funeral procession (probably one of many held across the country in a time long before TV allowed the nation to mourn together as we did when JFK was buried) for U.S. Grant and watching from atop his father's shoulders as the various mourners passed. Clearly, this event, along with others he mentions, fed Sandburg's curiosity about the Civil War and led him to write his many volumes about Lincoln. If, like me, you enjoy autobiography and memoir, you will enjoy Always the Young Strangers.

A Poet Remembers His Prairie Town

If one hears the name Sandburg, the first thing to come to mind is probably "Fog" or "City of Big Shoulders." But in reading this wonderful memoir, we are reminded of what a fine prose writer the man was. The tale of his struggling Swedish immigrant parents finding their way in late nineteenth century America and young "Charley" as he liked to be called, as the name Carl marked him as a foreigner, is a fascinating glimpse of a bygone time and place. The interesting jobs that young Carl took on, such as traveling the back roads selling stereo-optican views, and his conversations with a civil war vet are rewarding and insightful. I believe this is a wonderful read for anyone with a love of biography, history, or simply good storytelling.