This is a listing of the books and series on this site by decade.  Note, that this is when the stories were written and published, not necessarily when they take place.  Because this site is dedicated to nostalgic books, there are no books here less than 10 years old by the current year (nothing newer than 2007 for the present).  As always, this site is a work in progress, so there will be more here later!  To put some of these books into context, I decided to include some information about events and culture in each decade with suggestions for further reading.

If you’re looking for a book that you may have read when you were young, don’t forget to check the decade or so before the time you actually read it because it might have been older than you thought or a reprint of an older book, not a recently-published book.

Special note for authors and researchers: If you’re writing a story and looking for children’s books to mention from a certain time period (books that your characters might have read during a certain decade, when they were young), remember to look not only under that decade, but the ones before it.  For example, a child in the 1950s could have read not only the books actually written and published in the 1950s, but books from the 1940s and 1930s and even earlier that were still around.  I can still get hold of these books in the early 21st century, and they were much more plentiful in past decades!  Also note that certain series continued over a period of decades, so if you mention something like Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden or the Hardy Boys, check to see how much of the series was in existence during the time period you’re looking at.

Also, remember that a number of books in the various series written under the Stratemeyer Syndicate (and a few other books by other authors, but the Stratemeyer Syndicate is notorious for this) were changed significantly during re-release in different decades, not just the language and technological updates, but sometimes the entire plots of different books, even while still keeping the title the same!  My favorite example of this is the Hardy Boys mystery The Flickering Torch Mystery.  In the first, original version, the mystery actually involved a flickering torch as a clue.  Later, the entire plot of the book was changed so that it was about a dance place called The Flickering Torch (just so they could keep the title of the book the same).  Individual publication years matter, and this is important for collectors, too!

The 19th Century

Books from the 1810s

Part of the Georgian era, the decade of the Regency era.

Books from the 1820s

Late Georgian era, the end of the Regency era.

Books from the 1830s

The beginning of the Victorian era.

Books from the 1840s

Books from the 1850s

Books from the 1860s

The decade of the Civil War.

Books from the 1870s

Books from the 1880s

Books from the 1890s

The final decade of the 19th century and the end of the Victorian era.

The 20th Century

Books from the 1900s

The first decade of the 20th century!

Books from the 1910s

The decade of World War I.

Books from the 1920s

The decade of Prohibition.

Books from the 1930s

This was the decade of the Great Depression.

Books from the 1940s

This was the decade of World War II (the first half of the decade), and the beginning of the Cold War Era (the second half of the decade).  It was the start of the Baby Boom.

Books from the 1950s

Baby Boomers were young, and rock and roll music was big.  The United States entered the Korean War in the early part of the decade, and the Space Race began as an off-shoot of the Cold War technological race.

Books from the 1960s

This was the decade of the Civil Rights Movement, and society was changing in more ways than one.

Books from the 1970s

This was the decade of the Vietnam War.

Books from the 1980s

The 1980s had a number of disasters, including the Iran-Contra affair, the Challenger Disaster, and the Chernobyl meltdown.  It became known as a materialistic decade.  It ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Books from the 1990s

The decade began with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.  Technological developments led to the rise of the Information Age with the development of the World Wide Web.

The 21st Century

Books from the 2000s

The beginning of this decade was marked by the terrorist attacks and destruction of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. Throughout the decade, there was an increasing awareness of the threat of terrorists and a determination to stop them with increased security measures.

Books from the 2010s

Coming in 2020 or later.