Drawing on a wide range of historical sources -- from letters written to child-rearing experts to the minutes of mothers' study clubs -- Grant provides access to the voices of mothers from diverse class and ethnic backgrounds, revealing the impact of "expert" advice on maternal thinking and practices. Grant's review of child-rearing literature extends from Locke and Rousseau to Gesell, Ilg and Ames, Spock, Brazelton, Leach, and Elkind. She describes the "medicalization" of mothering, ongoing negotiations between mothers and professionals, and women's reactions to the experts' recommendations. As mothers have increasingly sought assistance in the complex enterprise of raising children, Grant finds, they have become discriminating consumers of professional advice -- choosing to follow it, ignore it, or adapt it to their individual circumstances.
"Grant has found wonderful primary sources, and her description and analysis of mothers' reactions to professionals' advice are personal, poignant, and powerful. Her book will standas the first significant work in the history of American parent education". -- Barbara Beatty, author of Preschool Education in America
