Monday, May 7, 2018

A 1950s Housewife: Marriage and Homemaking in the 1950s Paperback – January 1, 2016 by Sheila Hardy (The History Press)



I thought this rather brief book was an interesting take on British housewives in the 1950s, with some useful background on how and where "nice girls met nice guys" and then fulfilled The Dream by getting married.

Much of this work can be interpolated onto Middle America--or indeed most of America--during the same period without too great an effort. And that's scary, I think: that back in a day I can remember perfectly women were expected to lead--and in fact led--such stultifying and circumscribed lives. But my mother thought it was all just so peachy that she wanted the same life for me: "Go to college, dear, join a sorority, major in primary education, and find a husband. Teach children for a couple of years until you have children of your own."

Even if this book raises your liberated hackles, I think it is nevertheless worth a read as a glimpse into a past many of us remember or into a bit of history for others whose parents are too young to recall what is still referred to as "The Best Years of Our Lives," and might well wish to have return.

But not me, folks. Th
anks be to all that is holy--or unholy--I refused to follow that predestined path my parents had laid out.

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