The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America [Paperback]

Harvey Green (Author), Mary Ellen Perry (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 039471329X | ISBN-13: 978-0394713298 | Publication Date: August 12, 1984

From the greatest collection of American Voctoriana comes a wonderful evocation of the lives of women 100 years ago. 125 black & white photos.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

From the greatest collection of American Voctoriana comes a wonderful evocation of the lives of women 100 years ago. 125 black & white photos.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (August 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039471329X
• ISBN-13: 978-0394713298
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,474,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting points and a light read, May 1, 2000

By 

Rosemary Thornton "Niece of Addie Hoyt Fargo ... (Norfolk, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America (Paperback)

This book has some interesting tidbits and some cute details about women's life 100 years ago. Lots of info about how they dressed and personal hygiene and some housework information. It is an easy read. The book is over 200 pages, but the margins are huge. I'm an old house fanatic and a history buff and this book didn't quite hit the spot for me, but it's in my personal library as a good reference work.

However, if you can only buy one or two books about life 100 years ago, I'd recommend "Never done" by Susan Strasser and "Victorian America" by Thomas Schlereth.

These books get to the nitty gritty and have more substance. Again, "Light of the Home" is not a bad book - I bought it, after all and I kept it! It's in my top five favorite books of women's life in history. I'd just put a couple books above it, in my personal preferences.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book about women in the Victorian Era!, November 26, 2001

By 

Rosella Ann Myles - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America (Paperback)

I really like this book, and highly recommend it.
It's great for anyone interested in the Victorian era.
It talks about women's fashion's in that era and their
way of life. It has some good illustrations a well.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars marriage, family and material culture, July 8, 2005

By 

James Seymour (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Light of the Home: An Intimate View of the Lives of Women in Victorian America (Paperback)

Green studied the domestic lives of women in Victorian America. Because they left few written records of their daily lives, Green used the memorabilia from the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum in his investigation. This collection of clothing, cooking utensils, bicycles, furniture, and other impedimenta of daily living evidenced the routines of these women.

The nature of this material limited his study to white, urban, middle-class women in the Northeast, who could afford these objects. Green accepts that limitation because he claims these women shaped popular domestic culture.

The book is divided into chapters dealing with specific concerns of ordinary women, such as courtship and marriage, motherhood, housework, interior design, and leisure activities.

The onset of puberty signaled the end of women's freedom as their clothing and hairstyles changed to reflect this more constricted existence. Corsets and hairpins restricted women's movement and represented their limited opportunities in society.

Unmarried women's activities centered around choosing a husband. After flirting, dates, and engagement, couples married. Overnight, women were transformed from blushing virgins to world-wise matrons and were expected to act accordingly.

Society deemed children the essential component to marriage. This strident advocacy contended with the dangers of pregnancy and childbirth in this era. Mothers then created a safe garden in which their children could grow.

Women oversaw the home, which displayed their social position, and furnished them with handicrafts and artwork to create a miniature universe of culture, stability, and learning.

Because society equated cleanliness with moral worth, women spent most of their time cleaning. Green detailed these daily chores, such as baking, washing, and sewing, and described the change which labor saving devices wrought.

With the new free time, women pursued a variety of leisure activities, such as shopping, social calls, sports, and volunteer work.

Women participated in religion more than men, and theology reflected their influence. Heaven came to resemble the Victorian home. Religion emphasized the feminine virtues of nurturing, generosity, passivity, and moral stewardship.

Women's health revolved around their reproductive system. Physicians and reformers decried the corset, high heels, masturbation, and female orgasm as dangerous to reproduction. Physicians used neurasthenia, a vague non-disease, and prescribed tonics and placebos for other complaints.

Green's study contained several problems. His material limited his investigation to white, middle class, urban women from the Northeast. These women represented a minority of the population in this period. He overlooked the relationship between wives and husbands. He made several broad assertions, such as that "the vast majority of middle class women accepted their position," (p.57) without substantiating these allegations. His study suffered from these oversimplifications and from his narrow research material.

If you are seeking information about women's material culture, then this is the book for you. If you want a more in depth analysis of women's roles in the period, there are better accounts available.