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Author Elias, Megan J.

Title Stir it up : home economics in American culture / Megan J. Elias.

Imprint Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008.

Copies

Location Call No. OPAC Message Status
 Axe 3rd Floor Stacks  392.30904 El42s 2008    ---  Available
Description 226 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-210) and index.
Contents A department of one's own -- At home in the world -- Future homemakers of America -- Burn your braisers -- Flip this housewife.
Summary For Americans who came of age in the mid-twentieth century, home economics conjures memories of burnt toast and sewing disasters. But as historian Megan Elias shows in Stir It Up, home economics began as an idealistic reform movement in higher education as early as the 1900s. A major shift occurred in the 1950s, when new ideas about women's roles seemed to divert home economics into more traditional channels, and "home ec" became identified with the era's conformist culture. Stir It Up explains what the successes and failures of home economists can tell us about American culture. The book concludes with an examination of contemporary attitudes toward domesticity, putting the phenomena of Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Ty Pennington, and the "Mommy Wars" into historical context. --from publisher description.
Subject Home economics -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
Women -- United States -- Social conditions -- 20th century.
ISBN 9780812221213 (pbk.)
0812221214 (pbk.)
9780812240795 (alk. paper)
0812240790 (alk. paper)

 
    
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