'The 1950s and early 60s was a great era to grow up in, especially if you were a boy. There were lots of fellow Baby Boomers to play with, clean air (apart from flies and mosquitoes), clear roads to ride your bike on, footballs to kick in the street and the excitement of living in a television-free environment.
'Ron Banks was fortunate to grow up in Mosman Park when it was mostly a working-class suburb. His memoir unearths the secrets of boyhood happiness (and sometimes girlhood) capturing the times with wit and sharp observational skills. The author delves back into the past to make it alive and comprehensible, even if following generations thought it dull and conservative.
'He began his working life as a school-teacher but soon understood his unsuitability for that profession and switched to the far easier craft of journalism.
'Fragments is a factual account of sane parenting and growing up for those who were there, and an historical account for those who were not.'
(Source: publisher's blurb)
