Weekends with Arlie

As we move deeper into the 21st century, some of the most fascinating stories that held together a younger United States are being lost to time. In Weekends with Arlie, Robert Maninger and Arlie himself save-and share-one of those stories.

Arlie Linn Mathews grew up in the Dust Bowl of the Oklahoma panhandle. He rode the range as a cowboy in 1930s Colorado and then served in the Navy during World War II. And that was just his first couple decades of life. Over his 102 years, he saw his family, his country, and the world change in leaps never before experienced-knowing both travel by horse and travel to space, mail that took weeks and texts that took no time at all, an old-fashioned existence and a society now that is barely in the present and instead ever hurtling toward the future.

Drawing on his experience writing researched academic articles and several books, including two other family histories, Maninger uses his keen eye to draw out and weave together Arlie's life story. Specific to Arlie and his family but universal to so many Americans, Weekends with Arlie will interest anyone wanting to know more about American history.