National Network for Equitable Library Service

Eavesdroppings recounts life in the small towns of Ontario before sin arrived on the Internet—a time when churches were never locked and parents, not wishing to be disturbed while they listened to the radio, shooed their children out to play in the dark, unguarded streets without fear. Here you'll find comedy, outrage and tragedy, but no disguise. Included are actual events and the names of all persons involved. The author tracks the quaint immorality of small-town sin in the 1930s and its evolution from full-frontal bingo in the churches to the current degeneracy of nude women wrestling men in vats of Jell-O in licensed nightclubs, but he never moralizes. Indeed, he provides no uplifting messages at all—just gossip, which, as Oscar Wilde said, "is what history is all about and more fun."