E-mail: lowell“at”revlowell.com

Growing up in a Chicago neighborhood, 1942 to 1952, the last great era for children of an exciting city before their parents’ flight to the suburbs.

 Author Lowell Streiker revisits the games, streets, playgrounds, schools, and friends of his youth in Of Boys and Guns: Childhood Memories of a Chicago Neighborhood, 1942 – 1952. His new book is a revised and enlarged version of his earlier work, The Old Neighborhood: Memories of a Chicago Childhood—1942 to 1952. The book opens: “During my pre-teenage years on Chicago’s Springfield Avenue, I was part of a neighborhood gang. ‘The Springfield Gang’—that’s what we called ourselves. How harmless the term ‘gang’ was then! Eight or nine of us hung out together on the streets from dawn to dusk, playing kick the can, marbles, clipper softball, touch football, and above all, playing ‘guns.’ With the passing years, our weapons evolved from thumb and finger to crude wooden replicas to cap pistols and finally to squirt guns. Whatever our ordinance, the object was always the same: to get the drop on the other guy and shout, ‘Bang! Bang! You’re dead!’”

 For the author, 1942 to 1952 was a time of rapid change characterized by

The unconditional love of grandparents

The mother he loved and feared

The competitive, one-of-a-kind father

The neighborhood going to war

Belonging to a Jewish family in an Italian Catholic neighborhood

The confessions of a good (most of the time) boy

The missing girl and the thing in the swamp

The ubiquity of radio and the intrusion of TV

Weekends at the movies in those palatial theaters

Bargain days at Riverview Park

Summer camp

The Japanese suicide submarine and the organ grinder’s monkey

Learning adult-kept secrets—death, divorce, money, and sex

Games, gangs, and simple pleasures

UFOs and a man from Mars

What Readers are Saying

I loved the memoir! It reminded me of my own childhood years on the West Side.

Fr. Andrew M. Greeley, sociologist/novelist

 “…well written, well documented journey into one of Chicago’s great eras!….” 

Michael Schwass, MSW, Member of the National Speakers’ Association, author of Don’t Blame the Game

I love Lowell Streiker's book. Simply and honestly written, it's a wonderful, funny and moving book about childhood in Chicago.

Susan Wooldridge, poet

Chico, California

A fascinating tour through one boy's childhood!

Reading Lowell’s bookis like flipping through a well-worn keepsake album, accompanied by a guide with a spot-on memory. This is a powerful and poignant voyage that should not be missed.

Elaine Soloway, author of The Division Street Princess

THANK YOU, LOWELL!

Growing up in Chicago in nearly those same years, I was delighted at how well the author was able to bring that time and place to life. I laughed out loud on almost every page.

Peggy Rushford, artist

Green Valley, AZ

HERE'S A GREAT LITTLE BOOK!

I whole-heartedly recommend this book to those of you who honor your pasts, no matter how bitter or how sweet. I venture you'll find some new tricks to pass on to your own children, as well as spurring your own images that have been forgotten. This is a great primer for those of us still dreaming about writing our memoirs.

Robert Rock

President, Northern California Writers Forum

This is a wise and warm and delightful story, one you hate to finish, but in this case, fortunately there are more years to hear about.  I hope Lowell is busy writing about the next ten years!

Betty Jensen

Menlo Park, California

Click here to read an excerpt

For an autographed/inscribed copy send a check for $19.99 to Lowell Streiker, 3309 El Camino Dr., Cottonwood, CA 96022 and I will pay the postage.