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The Age of the Bachelor

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Once in a while a book comes my way that gets me to see the world in a whole new way. Howard P. Chudacoff's THE AGE OF THE BACHELOR is one of those books. Chudacoff traces the influence on (and place in) American society of the unmarried adult male over roughly the last 120 years. Economics and demographics have played a big part in the changing role of unmarried men, from the days of the pitiable "old bachelor" who lived a lonely life in rooming houses of the 1800s to the glamorous "swinging single" of the late 20th Century. As more single men gained larger disposable incomes, entrepreneurs found ways to glamorize and exploit the unmarried condition, creating new markets and new values. This not only changed the lives of single men, but the society as a whole, as women, too, began to challenge the idea of the married state being the ideal one. I found this fascinating reading.

One of the major discussions of the book is the changing definition of what it means to be a man. How do men's lives differ from women's lives? Whereas females have a lot of generational interaction in their lives, males, with the advent of the move from agrarian to urban living, lost the mentoring influence of their fathers and developed same sex friendships almost exclusively among their contemporaries. Females tend to form relationships based on support and sympathy, whereas competition serves as the major tie among males. In the absence of time spent with the family, other venues of male camaraderie, like the saloon, the pool hall and the sports arena evolved.

The book contains many statistical tables and hefty appendices of notes and bibliography. But this is not a plodding book for specialists. I found it lively and entertaining with one insightful page after another. This is one of the most enlightening books I've read in a long time.

"The Age of the Bachelor" attempts to present a comprehensive examination of the bachelor subculture that emerged in the 19th century in a way that is not colored by the negative connotations often associated with bachelorhood. The book focuses primarily on urban bachelor lifestyles and institutions 1880-1930, the peak years of bachelor subculture in the United States. Most bachelors did, in fact, eventually marry. The bachelor subculture emerged due to men marrying at more advanced age than they previously had, prolonging the time that men spent as unmarried adults.

Author Howard Chudacoff introduces his subject with an overview of bachelorhood in colonial and early America and the roots of its negative connotations before moving on to the emergence of sporting-male culture and working class, middle class, and patrician bachelorhood in the 19th century. Included are discussions of why there were so many bachelors; how the social life of singles became an end in itself; how and where bachelors lived; the saloons, pool halls, cafés, dance halls and like institutions where these men spent their spare time; bachelors' relationships with women; and an analysis of the popular men's weekly "The National Police Gazette". The book's last two chapters address American male culture in general: how it changed in the 19th century due to increased urbanization and industrialization, the decline of bachelorhood 1940-1960, and its reemergence in the 1960s.

Howard Chudacoff has written an admirable survey of the emergence, prominence, and consequences of bachelor subculture in America. "The Age of the Bachelor" does contain statistics, so the writing is dense in some places, but it is generally very readable. There is a smattering of period photographs and illustrations throughout. This is a welcome study of an interesting and significant aspect of American social history that has previously been neglected.

A must read for historically minded hedonists or anyone interested in the origins of consumer culture. Very well written and the final chapter comparing late 19th century bachelors to Boomer singles was particularly interesting