My First Life is an autobiography of life in a small, rural village in western New York in the '30's and '40's, and a lucid account of the culture of small town life during the worst years of the depression and WWII. Day provides interesting tales of his family, neighbors, old men of the village, and his pals, with whom he explored everything from the village haunts to his sexual coming-of-age. A compelling social history of the times and of the ways in which they shaped his character—for good and not so good.