From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America [Hardcover]

Professor Beth L. Bailey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1988

"Whether or not we've come a long way since then, this engaging study of courtship shows that at least half the fun is in reading about getting there." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Whether or not we've come a long way since then, this engaging study of courtship shows that at least half the fun is in reading about getting there." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"As entertaining as it is informative. Bailey documents sources from Margaret Mead to advertising's hokey hype in her comprehensive analysis of the rituals of American amore, exploring the themes of 'control, competition, consumption, the sexual economy, etiquette and gender.'." -- Booklist

"A fascinating study of an important part of our recent past." -- The Nation

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (April 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801836093
• ISBN-13: 978-0801836091
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,488,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Story--But Please, an Updated Version!, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America (Paperback)

I'm a college professor and I use this book in my classes all the time. Students (male and female) love it, and they remember it. Many of them give the book to their parents to read. Bailey is an engaging writer who employs a wide variety of sources to demonstrate the path from calling to dating to going steady, and the changing meanings of those words. An historian, Bailey provides helpful social and cultural contexts. It's useful gender history. But what the book really needs is an update that would take this topic to the present. The Epilogue doesn't explain enough about dating nowadays, and thus the earlier chapters are best.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Historical Perspective, April 11, 2000

By 

Crystal - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America (Paperback)

Ms Bailey writes of 20th century courtship from the 1920's or so onwards. Discussing those elements that changed social conventions and permissible actions (such as the car) she vividly discusses the evolution of courtship, and with it sexuality throughtout the 20th century. A fun read for kicks, and a fabulous resource for historians researching the evolution in dating.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could have used a larger scope, July 4, 2010

By 

Amy - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America (Paperback)

I appreciate that Bailey mines through a lot of popular culture in describing attitudes about courtship in this book, but I would have liked to have seen more research that delves into the larger trends she touches upon very briefly here. She argues that courtship became seen in economic terms as it went from a private ritual to a public activity-- were there other rituals that followed similar paths? Exactly how influential was Freudian theory on sexuality for the typical college co-ed?

I'm particularly interested in the history of the teenager, which this book was mildly helpful for. If you're more interested in gender relations or 20th-century American culture, you may find this work more meaningful.