Recollections of Full Years

Written by Helen Herron Taft, Recollections of Full Years presents a biography, memoir, nonfiction, travel first published in 1914. At its center are ideas, events, practices, and the effort to understand lived reality, developed through the conventions and freedoms of biography, memoir, nonfiction, travel. Rather than depending on topical novelty, the book builds its interest through the interaction of character, situation, and idea. The reading experience is shaped by a direct explanatory style shaped by observation, argument, and evidence. At roughly 131,447 words with a fairly difficult reading profile, it offers a reading commitment that is easy to judge before beginning while still leaving room for close attention. Readers still return to it because of its usefulness as a window into the concerns and assumptions of its time. The result is a book that rewards readers who enjoy direct explanatory style shaped by observation, argument, and evidence while leaving room for reflection after the final page.