Customer Reviews

"Just a Housewife": The Rise and Fall of Domesticity in America

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The concluding thought of this work is that "a successful society and successful homes are inextricably intertwined" Pivitol to my personal growth in realizing and peacefully accepting my importance at work, as an attorney, and my importance at home, as a mother, wife, and spiritual mentor for my family. Before reading this I hypothesized that the duties of home had been denegrated becuase of the struggle of women. After reading Ms. Matthews work I realized there have been many other American influences that have caused us to neglect the fundamentals of nurturing ourselves and those we love through our activities at home. The impact of this neglect is the work of others, and personally resulted in a leaking roof that had gone unrepaired for months, one inch of water on our laundry room floor, and no milk for our 2 year old in the refrigerator. Neither me nor my husband, a second year resident could take time away from "more important" responsibilities.

The most refreshing idea supported by Ms. Mathews was that the 1820s was a time in America's history, in which great thinkers (women and men)viewed the activities of home as central to raising and nurturing citizens capable of participating in a democratic form of government. WOW! Such community value for the time spent at home playing with children, fellowshiping over a nutritious home cooked meal, reading books, etc. helped me become more content and noble as I more fully engaged the responsibilities occuring at home.

This work is thick with references to other works: revisiting American history from the perspective of the institution of home, separating it from the history of gender.

I found it interesting to read the history of housewives and now I understand why we view housewives as we do now in our society. We have more freedoms as women but not honored as "just a housewife". It was interesting to read how being a housewife was once highly valued in the early nineteenth century and to see what difficult work it was (such as laundry). Also, to see how the value went down as time continued and circumstances happened. If you like history and especially history of women, read this book. Some of it was a little boring and redundant to me but overall it was interesting to me as I wasn't familiar with a lot of the ideas.

My usual Amazon experience - EXCELLENT! to say the least. The order arrived in a timely manner, and gave me an excellent resource to add to my library of housework books.