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teriboop's review
3.0
This is a very interesting topic with very interesting information that some people might find dry but left me wanting to read more. Homeward Bound looks at the relationships of husbands and wives during the Cold War years. Elaine Tyler May uses data from the Kelly Longitudinal Study, which was conducted from 1935 - 1955. The KLS surveyed hundreds of married couples to get their thoughts on family dynamics including home life, work life, sex, and children. Attitudes obviously changed from the 30s to the 50s. The author put the data in context with the state of the nation throughout the Cold War showing how families changed and evolved. Attitudes on personal safety (the A-bomb / duck and cover drills / personal fallout shelters), dating, contraception, family roles (a woman's place is in the home....or is it?), and children were also discussed.
There's no humor here but I thought the book was somewhat engaging but at times repetitive or just too much data being thrown at the reader. What was most interesting to me was to see how attitudes changed over time. What I came away with is that many people were unhappy in their marriages and often married due to social norms and pressures to "have the ideal family life." Women hated being stuck at home to run the house when they had ambitions in life. They were expected to go to college to find a husband, then bail on school or any other thoughts on a career to have children, wait on their husbands, and run the house. Men simply treated women as lesser beings that were there to be at their beck and call. They were unequal partners who needed to stay at home and make sure the kids were taken care of and sent off to school. By the time the 50s and 60s rolled around, women began to find their voice and feminist attitudes began to challenge the old norms. Many of the survey respondent's comments were eye-opening and entertaining. This book will certainly make you understand how far we have come and how family life has changed since the Cold War.
What I didn't get a feel for, was the diversity of the surveyed couples. That is, were they all from a certain part of the country? Were they all urban, suburban, or rural couples? Financial and educational status was lightly discussed, but I didn't get a feel for whether the respondents were representative of the whole country or a specific area. It may have mentioned it in the Appendix, but I missed it if it did. I did like that the Appendix included the survey that was given.
Recommended for anyone interested in family dynamics post World War II.
There's no humor here but I thought the book was somewhat engaging but at times repetitive or just too much data being thrown at the reader. What was most interesting to me was to see how attitudes changed over time. What I came away with is that many people were unhappy in their marriages and often married due to social norms and pressures to "have the ideal family life." Women hated being stuck at home to run the house when they had ambitions in life. They were expected to go to college to find a husband, then bail on school or any other thoughts on a career to have children, wait on their husbands, and run the house. Men simply treated women as lesser beings that were there to be at their beck and call. They were unequal partners who needed to stay at home and make sure the kids were taken care of and sent off to school. By the time the 50s and 60s rolled around, women began to find their voice and feminist attitudes began to challenge the old norms. Many of the survey respondent's comments were eye-opening and entertaining. This book will certainly make you understand how far we have come and how family life has changed since the Cold War.
What I didn't get a feel for, was the diversity of the surveyed couples. That is, were they all from a certain part of the country? Were they all urban, suburban, or rural couples? Financial and educational status was lightly discussed, but I didn't get a feel for whether the respondents were representative of the whole country or a specific area. It may have mentioned it in the Appendix, but I missed it if it did. I did like that the Appendix included the survey that was given.
Recommended for anyone interested in family dynamics post World War II.
crunden's review
⤑ research tag: in an effort to organise my shelves, I’m going to be labelling the books I’m using for study purposes as I tend to dip in and out of these.
natethegreat's review against another edition
3.0
Elaine May’s Homeward Bound asks why Americans made so much of family after World War Two. The book makes an important contribution in that it historicizes the mid-20th century family. May notes that, and this certainly speaks to my own experiences growing up toward the end of the Cold War, it is widely believed that the 1950s was the last hurrah of a longstanding form of the family. In fact, the turn to family after World War Two was precisely that, a turn, a change.
Homeward Bound starts relatively late in the period it analyzes, opening with the famous "kitchen debate" between Nixon and Kruschev. While it late returns to the 1950s, the book moves backward in time from the kitchen debate, focusing first on how the Depression and then the Second World War impacted family structures. Both events changed the participation of women in the workforce. Women worked more outside the home, which shaped attitudes and desires around women's roles in family and work.
One central factor which fed into the creation the 1950s family was people’s perception of relative insecurity between the Depression, the Second World War, and the threat of nuclear annihilation after the war. Family became a way to achieve some feeling of security, and the drive toward family was in part a drive toward feeling secure. May stresses that other historical avenues were possible, even if they were ultimately not taken. By eroding men’s monopoly of the role as the so-called breadwinner, the Depression and Second World War could have given rise to a more egalitarian family as opposed to the traditional - though new - family of the 1950s. In some respects, the unfulfilled potentials of war time became an engine for reaction against those potentials. As May writes, “sudden emancipation of women during wartime gave rise to a suspicion surrounding autonomous women.” (77.)
The book draws on a variety of sources, including movies, popular magazines about celebrities, demographic data, and a series of surveys conducted with middle class families about their satisfaction with and thoughts about their marriages. The surveys allow May a remarkable window onto might be an otherwise difficult to grasp part of life. They also allow her to tell people’s very personal stories about marital happiness and unhappiness. The surveys allow a look at aspects of people’s lives which are simultaneously uniquely individual as well as exemplary of larger social trends.
May’s work offers useful examples of how a historical argument and narrative can link issues of policy and attitudes in one part of society with other social and cultural sites, and use very different sources. May links feelings of insecurity during and after World War Two with the increasingly widespread view that women’s independence posed a danger to masculinity and thus to society. This could be a useful model for some of my on workplace injuries, law, and insurance in the early 20th century United States. I would like to look at the theme risk and security across policy debates over workers’ compensation, juries’ attitudes toward work, and popular perceptions of war. Just as May looked a gendered component of the Cold War and assessed the expansion and contraction of the range of opportunities for women, I would like to see if worker’s compensation programs ultimately offered more or less opportunities for women and disabled people.
Homeward Bound starts relatively late in the period it analyzes, opening with the famous "kitchen debate" between Nixon and Kruschev. While it late returns to the 1950s, the book moves backward in time from the kitchen debate, focusing first on how the Depression and then the Second World War impacted family structures. Both events changed the participation of women in the workforce. Women worked more outside the home, which shaped attitudes and desires around women's roles in family and work.
One central factor which fed into the creation the 1950s family was people’s perception of relative insecurity between the Depression, the Second World War, and the threat of nuclear annihilation after the war. Family became a way to achieve some feeling of security, and the drive toward family was in part a drive toward feeling secure. May stresses that other historical avenues were possible, even if they were ultimately not taken. By eroding men’s monopoly of the role as the so-called breadwinner, the Depression and Second World War could have given rise to a more egalitarian family as opposed to the traditional - though new - family of the 1950s. In some respects, the unfulfilled potentials of war time became an engine for reaction against those potentials. As May writes, “sudden emancipation of women during wartime gave rise to a suspicion surrounding autonomous women.” (77.)
The book draws on a variety of sources, including movies, popular magazines about celebrities, demographic data, and a series of surveys conducted with middle class families about their satisfaction with and thoughts about their marriages. The surveys allow May a remarkable window onto might be an otherwise difficult to grasp part of life. They also allow her to tell people’s very personal stories about marital happiness and unhappiness. The surveys allow a look at aspects of people’s lives which are simultaneously uniquely individual as well as exemplary of larger social trends.
May’s work offers useful examples of how a historical argument and narrative can link issues of policy and attitudes in one part of society with other social and cultural sites, and use very different sources. May links feelings of insecurity during and after World War Two with the increasingly widespread view that women’s independence posed a danger to masculinity and thus to society. This could be a useful model for some of my on workplace injuries, law, and insurance in the early 20th century United States. I would like to look at the theme risk and security across policy debates over workers’ compensation, juries’ attitudes toward work, and popular perceptions of war. Just as May looked a gendered component of the Cold War and assessed the expansion and contraction of the range of opportunities for women, I would like to see if worker’s compensation programs ultimately offered more or less opportunities for women and disabled people.
apnicholson's review against another edition
3.0
Important but unusual history. I re-read this book as I was interested in perusing it more deeply after initial exposure to its introductory arguments when studying for comps last year. First published in 1988, May introduces original concepts and an interesting framework of domestic containment. But a close reading reveals repetitive and heavy reliance on the same few sources throughout and a very unusual, almost other-disciplinary approach (for a history book). May seems more interested in presenting a snapshot in time buttressed by sociological data, but with very little emphasis on historical actors, narrative storytelling, or change over time. But sufficient historical context, and clear, enjoyable writing are major strengths.
— In all, the book relays vital and interesting information but is not a compelling historical work.
— In all, the book relays vital and interesting information but is not a compelling historical work.
pqlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Not my favorite era in history, but this was a very readable book.
lstanley24's review against another edition
4.0
I’m currently taking a 20th Century America class (I’m Canadian..FYI) for school and it’s actually proving to be quite interesting. For part of the class, you have to do a non-fiction book report, from a set list, and I chose Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May for well, the reason above.
Focusing on families and family dynamics (the Baby Boom, women’s role in the family etc.) in America during the 50s and the Cold War Era, May is able to give a personal and informative look into the era. Using a lot of pop culture references throughout, the book remains mostly factual base but in an easy to digest form.
May’s main argument in Homeward Bound is that during the Cold War there was a belief that “containment was key,” in order to protect you from the outside “threatening” forces at the time. (Nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union etc.) With this in mind, Americans were “homeward bound,” in the sense that they were creating a safe and contained family structure and home.
In the updated prologue of Homeward Bound, May does well to connect the post-9/11 feeling with that of the Cold War era.
Proving to be a very interesting read, Homeward Bound, is both a great and informative read for academic and leisure reading purposes.
Focusing on families and family dynamics (the Baby Boom, women’s role in the family etc.) in America during the 50s and the Cold War Era, May is able to give a personal and informative look into the era. Using a lot of pop culture references throughout, the book remains mostly factual base but in an easy to digest form.
May’s main argument in Homeward Bound is that during the Cold War there was a belief that “containment was key,” in order to protect you from the outside “threatening” forces at the time. (Nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union etc.) With this in mind, Americans were “homeward bound,” in the sense that they were creating a safe and contained family structure and home.
In the updated prologue of Homeward Bound, May does well to connect the post-9/11 feeling with that of the Cold War era.
Proving to be a very interesting read, Homeward Bound, is both a great and informative read for academic and leisure reading purposes.
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