That Was Then, This Is Now

Author: S. E. Hinton

Genre: Young adult fiction

Publication Date: 1971

Overview

Introduction

Susan Eloise Hilton is an American author best known for her coming-of-age novels, especially her debut work, The Outsiders (1967), which she began writing at the age of fifteen, when she was in high school. Inspired by two rival gangs in Will Rogers High School in Oklahoma which Hilton attended, The Outsiders is a searing portrait of the class conflict existing among underprivileged youths. The book is a bestseller even today and was also adapted into a movie starring Tom Cruise and Patrick Swayze, among others. Hinton was the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards award which honors authors of young adult literature whose works open a window for young adults to view their own world and understand themselves and their role in society.

After the publication of her first work, she experienced a writer’s block for three years. Subsequently, her partner helped her emerge from this by motivating her to write two pages before they went out every night. That is how Hinton completed That Was Then, This Is Now, which was eventually published in 1971.

Hinton’s second work of fiction, like her first, is also set in an unspecified location in Oklahoma in the 1960s. It is a touching portrait of the bond between two best friends, Bryon and Mark, who grow up and grow apart. They are two teenage pool hustlers whose story is narrated through the prism of many complex issues such as racism, poverty, and the use of drugs. The New York Times hailed it as ‘a mature, disciplined novel’ that is ‘hard to forget.’ This work was also adapted into a movie in 1985.

That Was Then, This Is Now Characters

That Was Then, This Is Now Summary and Analysis

That Was Then, This Is Now Motifs and Symbols

That Was Then, This Is Now Quotes

That Was Then, This Is Now Discussion Questions