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Jessica Weiss

To Have and to Hold: Marriage, the Baby Boom, and Social Change Paperback – April 15, 2000

by Jessica Weiss (Author)

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Middle-class family life in the 1950s brings to mind images of either smugly satisfied or miserably repressed nuclear families with breadwinning husbands, children, and housewives, much like the families depicted in Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best.

Jessica Weiss delves beneath these mythic images and paints a far more complex picture that reveals strong continuities between the baby boomers and their parents. Drawing on interviews with American couples from the 1950s to the 1980s, Weiss creates a dynamic portrait of family and social change in the postwar era. She pairs these firsthand accounts with a deft analysis of movies, television shows, magazines, and advice books from each decade, providing an unprecedented and intimate look at ordinary marriages in a time of sweeping cultural change.

Weiss shows how young couples in the 1950s attempted to combine egalitarian hopes with traditional gender roles. Middle-class women encouraged their husbands to become involved fathers. Midlife wives and mothers reshaped the labor force and the home by returning to work in the 1960s. And couples strove for fulfilling marriages as they dealt with the pressures of childrearing in the midst of the sexual and divorce revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1980s, they were far more welcoming to the ideas of the women's movement than has often been assumed. More than simply changing with the times, the parents of the baby boom contributed to changing times themselves.

Weiss's excellent use of family interviews that span three decades, her imaginative examination of popular culture, and her incisive conclusions make her book an invaluable contribution not only to our understanding of the past but also to our understanding of men's and women's roles in today's family.

"Weiss has written an enlightening book that examines the dynamics of American families past and present. . . . Since Weiss is a historian, she provides analyses of her arguments that are factual rather than emotive, and her use of family interviews further contributes to a strong presentation. Overall, this is a unique works because its multidisciplinary approach informs but never preaches on the emotionally charged topic of the American family.—Sheila Devaney, Library Journal

Print length

307 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

April 15, 2000
Dimensions

6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0226886719
ISBN-13

978-0226886718
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Weiss has written an enlightening book that examines the dynamics of American families past and present. She uses the lens of popular culture to decipher the myth behind familial roles, and it is her use of popular culture that makes this books stand out from other works on the American family. The seven chapters that make up the crux of the book investigate such topics as gender roles in the 1950s, the baby boom, the changing role of fathers in American families, divorce, and the rise of feminism. Since Weiss is a historian (California State Univ., Hayward), she provides analyses of her arguments that are factual rather than emotive, and her use of family interviews further contributes to a strong presentation. Overall, this is a unique works because its multidisciplinary approach informs but never preaches on the emotionally charged topic of the American family. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
- Sheila Devaney, Univ. of Georgia Libs. Athens, GA.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; 1st edition (April 15, 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 307 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226886719
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226886718
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.19 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,774,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,123 in Sociology of Marriage & Family (Books)
- #13,685 in Marriage
- #175,051 in Social Sciences (Books)

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Jemima McFarland

perspective, emerging

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014

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In lucid, enjoyable prose Jessica Weiss sheds vital historical light on women's transition from homemaking into the job market. Using an archive of detailed interviews with middle-class couples from the 1950s to 1980s, she shows how this social change began in the Depression, World War II, and post-War eras, rather than roaring onto the scene in 1969.
She allows the voices of the interviewees to demonstrate for themselves that 1950s couples struggled to balance child-rearing, romance, increased demands for personal scope, women's need for independence, and yes, already, rising mortgage costs--which, interestingly, one man attributes to unscrupulously high bank loans to double-income families.
But Weiss mentions volunteer work only in passing. She cites only wage-earning labor as proof that "[p]ostwar women's excursions outside the domestic realm were not imited to consumption and carpooling," and ignores the social value, and work experience, of women's service to their communities.

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Dr. Robert L. Hampel

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2016

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Clears aside many facile stereotypes about the 1950s. Well written and meticulously researched.

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Michael Shapiro

A fascinating social inquiry

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2000

Most people believe the feminist revolution of the 1970s was the force that helped women re-draw the boundaries of family relationships, but this incisive exploration of the of baby-boomers' parents reveals the seeds of change were sown in the 1950s. History professor Jessica Weiss' book is a work of rigorous academic research, yet her lively and conversational style makes it enjoyable reading for anyone. Weiss explodes the myths of 1950s conformity showing how the dramatic social changes of the latter 20th century began with the more subtle shifts of the '50s. And she doesn't simply spin theories -- she updates a study that traced families starting the in 1950s, so we can hear the words of women facing the challenge of evolving roles.
To Have and To Hold starts with an exploration of how youthful marriage and early childbearing led to a redefinition of marital roles and goes on to consider how working women influenced the family's balance of power. Later chapters examine fatherhood, the quest for family togetherness, and the impact of divorce. And there's a fascinating evaluation of myths propagated by magazines with a sharp-eyed juxtaposition to what was really going on. Weiss even takes on Freidan's classic "Feminine Mystique" showing where it was on target and where it oversimplified issues. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking a fuller understanding of how the great social quakes of our time have affected our families.

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