In a book that accompanied a television series, Bainbridge outlines the lives of six families living in England. She explains that to those living in the "North" of England, "South" means "London." There are, she acknowledges, resorts in the South as well, but she thinks of those as places tourists go. The families outlined lived in Liverpool, Hastings, Barnsley, Bentley, Northumberland, and Birmingham. My favorite sketch was probably the one that followed the Johnson family of Northumberland. They were a farm family, but primarily the older generations of the family were shepherds. Some of the younger generations had left farming, but several of the girls were married to farmers. They had other interests as well. The sketches reminded me of the some of the human interest stories one might see Tom Brokaw sharing in his "The Greatest Generation" reports without the strong tie to the military. The Birmingham story briefly explored racial attitudes as it told the story of a black family living there. Bainbridge is a good writer, and there seemed to be a thread running through the stories to tie them somewhat together, as one might expect from a television series. That thread to an extent was Bainbridge herself as she offered her own observations and "takeaways" from each vignette. ( )