The American Woman's Home by Catharine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe [Paperback]

Nicole Tonkovich (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0813530792 | ISBN-13: 978-0813530796

The American Woman's Home, originally published in 1869, was one of the late nineteenth century's most important handbooks of domestic advice. The result of a collaboration by two of the era's most important writers, this book represents their attempt to direct women's acquisition and use of a dizzying variety of new household consumer goods available in the post-Civil War economic boom. It updates Catharine Beecher's influential Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841) and incorporates domestic writings by Harriet Beecher Stowe first published in The Atlantic in the 1860s. Today, the book can be likened to an anthology of household hints, with articles on cooking, decorating, housekeeping, child-rearing, hygiene, gardening, etiquette, and home amusements. The American Woman's Home, almost a bible on domestic topics for Victorian women, illuminates women's roles a century and a half ago and can be used for comparison with modern theories on the role of women in the home and in society. Illustrated with the original engravings, this completely new edition offers a lively introduction by Nicole Tonkovich and notes linking the text to important historical, social, and cultural events of the late nineteenth century. Nicole Tonkovich is associate professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego and the author of Domesticity with a Difference: The Nonfiction of Sarah Josepha Hale, Catharine Beecher, Fanny Fern, and Margaret Fuller. "A valuable book made conveniently available." -Choice

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The American Woman's Home, originally published in 1869, was one of the late nineteenth century's most important handbooks of domestic advice. The result of a collaboration by two of the era's most important writers, this book represents their attempt to direct women's acquisition and use of a dizzying variety of new household consumer goods available in the post-Civil War economic boom. It updates Catharine Beecher's influential Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841) and incorporates domestic writings by Harriet Beecher Stowe first published in The Atlantic in the 1860s. Today, the book can be likened to an anthology of household hints, with articles on cooking, decorating, housekeeping, child-rearing, hygiene, gardening, etiquette, and home amusements. The American Woman's Home, almost a bible on domestic topics for Victorian women, illuminates women's roles a century and a half ago and can be used for comparison with modern theories on the role of women in the home and in society. Illustrated with the original engravings, this completely new edition offers a lively introduction by Nicole Tonkovich and notes linking the text to important historical, social, and cultural events of the late nineteenth century.

About the Author

Nicole Tonkovich is associate professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego and the author of Domesticity with a Difference: The Nonfiction of Sarah Josepha Hale, Catharine Beecher, Fanny Fern, and Margaret Fuller.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (June 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813530792
• ISBN-13: 978-0813530796
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moral housekeeping and healthly living - 1869, May 28, 2000

By 

Pamela (Dubuque, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Woman's Home (Paperback)

Catherine Beecher's famous sister, Harriet, may have sparked some of the ideas presented, but did not actually contribute to the work of writing this book. Catherine was a childless, unmarried, middle-class woman, whose great tragedy was that her fiance was lost at sea before they were married.

She was an intellectual who lived in a time when women were severely constrained by domestic drudgery. Catherine Beecher strived to ennoble women's traditional role through education:

"It is the aim of this volume to elevate both the honor and the remuneration of all employments that sustain the many difficult and varied duties of the family state, and thus to render each department of woman's profession as much desired and respected as are the most honored professions of men."

There is a great deal of moralizing in this book, about lifestyle, Christian charity, care of children and servants, and so forth. In this, Catharine Beecher was a product of her century. Yet some of the observations are surprisingly astute, even for today's readers. For instance, there is a humorous passage about cooking with butter that will have you smiling about rancid butter in every dish. In so many ways, the modern homemaker has less to worry about. We can purchase conveniences that were undreamt of 130 years ago.

This is a self-consciously "American" perspective on keeping a middle class house. Yet the French are looked to as having perfected cooking and many other things, and this sort of repetitious praise can grate on the American reader. Beecher was addressing the American woman during the Civil War and post-Abolition time period, during a great influx of European immigrants and when the population was actively expanding westward. She had it in mind to influence the young woman of a certain generation, and in many ways, her ideas were both more advanced and more orderly than what had gone before.

This book is a *must read* for students of Women's History as it pertains to women in the home. If you are interested in the 19th century lifestyle, you will find many domestic details here.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Informative book, but beware of Echo version, April 8, 2007

By 

Smuckerheide (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Woman's Home (Paperback)

On browsing this book, it appears very informative for those interested in Victorian households and how the prominent Beechers advised women to manage their homes. However, I purchased the version of the book published by Echo Library, unaware that this version does NOT include the illustrations that appeared in the original book. The Beecher authors refer to at least 77 figures in their writing, but since none are included in Echo's version, it was difficult for me to follow the text or completely understand what it was saying. I feel quite cheated and am thus returning the book. But I think a version that includes the illustrations would be a great reference book for Victorian historians!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Versions Omit Illustrations, February 12, 2009

By 

Reckless Consumer (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The American Woman's Home by Catharine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe (Paperback)

"The American Woman's Home" is the most complete record of historic (mid-1800s) American domestic life I've found. Originally an instructional guide for homemakers, it's now wonderful window to women's lives in a very different time. The subjects covered are too numerous to list. Use Amazon's "Look Inside" feature to read through the table of contents to see if your interests are included...you'll be amazed by how much detailed information the author packed into this book. A great professor I once had used it as a textbook for a Women's Studies class. Every student in the class loved it - it's both enlightening and entertaining.

It is ESSENTIAL to find the correct edition of this book. One disappointing version published by Echo Library OMITS 100% of the original book's illustrations and diagrams.

A COMPLETE edition is published by RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS and includes all illustrations and text. Enter its ISBN - 0813530792 - in Amazon's search box to find it, but be sure to "Look Inside" the book to confirm it includes illustrations...the first page of Chapter One ("The Christian Family") should show a drawing of a church. If there's no artwork shown, it's probably a text-only (thus incomplete) edition. Amazon applies the same reviews to multiple versions of the same title, even if they differ widely, so don't rely on reviews unless they specify which edition they're referring to. Double-check by looking inside!

Find the right edition, and enjoy! You will not be disappointed!