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

by Harvey Green

Other authorsMary Ellen Perry
Paperback, 1984

Status

Available

Publication

Pantheon (1984), Edition: Later Printing, Paperback, 224 pages

Description

Chapters on courtship, marriage, motherhood, housework, decorating, health, leisure, and religion evoke the livesof Victorian women.

User reviews

LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
Very readable, fascinating book about living as a white female in America during the mid to late 1800s. Green uses the advertisements, private diaries, and household goods as sources to flesh out his tale.

A few fave quotes:
"Thus the resistance of workers to the injustices and excesses of the
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late-nineteenth century economy were not seen as indicators of some weakness in the system, but as the result of some individual or collective failure among the populace."

"The separation of the economic (male) sector from the domestic (female) sector thus placed women in the position of culpability for societal ills, but denied them access to the real means of rectifying them."

"The two great women's political reform movements of the turn of the century--suffrage and prohibition--became law when advocates convinced opponents that maternal influence would halt the precipitous decline of WASP culture."
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Language

Physical description

224 p.; 7.5 x 0.75 inches

ISBN

039471329X / 9780394713298

Local notes

Work/Labor
Page: 0.2467 seconds