Homeward Bound : American Families in the Cold War Era

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For those of united states of america who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in American suburbia, Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era provides a walk down memory lane. While nosotros all experienced the "duck and drop" drills at schoolhouse and remember watching "I Dear Lucy" and "Get out it to Beaver" on television receiver, May has tied the international and domestic situations of the fourth dimension together every bit cause and effect using her concepts of "containment" and "security." She hypothesizes that when Truman For those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in American suburbia, Elaine Tyler May'south Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era provides a walk downwardly memory lane. While we all experienced the "duck and drop" drills at school and remember watching "I Dearest Lucy" and "Leave it to Beaver" on television, May has tied the international and domestic situations of the time together as cause and outcome using her concepts of "containment" and "security." She hypothesizes that when Truman proclaimed the doctrine of containment for international communism, the reaction of the American family unit was containment on the home front end - containment of any dissent against the "American way of life" and containment of the fears created by a world fraught with doubt by a withdrawal into the nuclear family unit. She asserts, "With security equally the common thread, the cold state of war credo and the domestic revival reinforced one another." (198) The United States looked for security from Soviet missiles, bombers, and nuclear warheads; the American family looked for security equally well, from communists, homosexuals, divorce, childlessness, dissent, and nonconformity. "To alleviate these fears," she contends, "Americans turned to the family unit as a bastion of safety in an insecure earth." (9)
While we hear politicians yearn for the "simpler" and "traditional" fashion of life of the 50s and 60s, information technology is intriguing to note that May considers the era an aberration rather than a fourth dimension of normalcy. She asserts that the period, sandwiched between the roaring 20s, the depression, and the reawakening of activism in the tardily 60s and 70s, does not correspond the benchmark for American culture, but an era unique in its own way. Nor does she view this era as a return to Victorian ethos; her examination of the sexual mores of the solar day reveals that there was a containment of sexual expression to within the marriage contract and nuclear family rather than a repression of sexuality.
May makes apply of the Kelly Longitudinal Written report (KLS) throughout the volume. The KLS was a survey of the interaction between the ethics and the behavior of most six-hundred men and women who formed families during the 1940s and 1950s. Eastward. Lowell Kelly, a psychologist at the Academy of Michigan, who was interested in the long-term personality evolution among married persons, conducted it. Of particular involvement were the comments, written past the survey participants in their own words, describing their personal opinions about their satisfaction with their marriages and their sexuality. These comments, even more than the statistical data, seem to reveal that women were much less satisfied with the state of domestic affairs of the era. She makes the point that the nuclear family of the era, in spite of the nostalgia, may take non been as homogeneous equally appears on the surface. While men went to oft tedious and uninspiring jobs to fulfill their position equally breadwinner for the family, women sometimes considered their "jobs" as homemaker and wife equally tedious and uninspiring. However, at that place was no other option; married women who worked outside the home were ostracized and viewed with suspicion.
While she well documents the paucity of opportunities available to women during the postwar era, other than matrimony and family unit, her wistful "what ifs" appear unscholarly. She bemoans the "widespread challenges to traditional gender roles" brought nigh by the Groovy Low and the Second Earth State of war that "could have led to a restructured domicile."(v) "If opportunities had expanded," she laments, "the number of women property jobs would have risen dramatically. Viable long-term task prospects for women might have prompted new ways of structuring family roles [italics mine:]" (57)
May does, however, thoroughly document and establish her thesis that "the testify overwhelmingly indicates that postwar American social club experienced a surge in family unit life and a reaffirmation of domesticity that rested on singled-out roles for women and men." (vi) Beginning with her initial chapter almost "domestic containment" during the common cold war, she carefully traces the evolution of the American family from the Slap-up Depression, through World War Ii, and to the postwar era, which is the focus of her work. While she would take hoped that American lodge might accept looked at the resulting increase of women in the workforce as a fundamental change in postwar society, the fact is that the increased participation of women was viewed as a temporary situation in reaction to crisis. To her chagrin, the domesticity of women became the norm, and the man became the undisputed king of his castle.
May continues to tie her domestic and international "containment" theories together in the final chapter detailing the infant boomers' coming of age. "Every bit domestic containment began to crumble at dwelling," she maintains, "the antiwar movement gave rising to the first large-scale rejection of the containment policy abroad." (210) She concludes, "Information technology is articulate that in the later years of the cold war, the domestic ideology and cold war militance rose and roughshod together." (216)
May's book is an important addition to scholarship on the era. Information technology was well written, documented, and researched. Her inclusion of photos and posters help illustrate her points. She statistically documents her bounds as well as including numerous instance studies. For those of us whose intellects were formulated during the postwar era, her book helps u.s.a. understand who we are and from whence we came.
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Mar 07, 2018 Simon Purdue rated it information technology was astonishing

In Homeward Bound Elaine Tyler May seeks to explain the phenomenal rise of the nuclear family in postal service war America. In the years following the stop of WWII marriage rates soared to all time highs, divorce rates dropped and nascency rates exploded in what came to exist known equally the 'baby boom'. Previous scholars had dismissed this societal reorientation every bit a product of the return to peace, but May argues that it was much deeper. Noting that a similar familial boom did not occur in the aftermath of the Fi In Homeward Bound Elaine Tyler May seeks to explain the phenomenal rise of the nuclear family in mail war America. In the years post-obit the cease of WWII wedlock rates soared to all time highs, divorce rates dropped and birth rates exploded in what came to exist known every bit the 'baby boom'. Previous scholars had dismissed this societal reorientation every bit a product of the return to peace, but May argues that it was much deeper. Noting that a similar familial boom did not occur in the aftermath of the First World War, May argues that 'nothing on the surface of postwar society could explain this boom'. Indeed she suggests that the reconfiguration of American society before and after the war- with the surge of women into the workplace and the earlier manifestations of a sexual revolution- made it more likely that matrimony and birth rates would fall in peacetime. Thus instead of looking at the wartime/peacetime dichotomy that previous scholars have used, May examines the wider cultural milieu of the early Cold War to explain this search for security in the home and the family unit. Crucially May suggests that the generation that married and reproduced in the belatedly 1940s and 1950s represented an anomaly in demographic trends, arguing that their children- those of the 1960s generation- had much more in common with their socially revolutionary grandparents than they did with their parents.
At the core of May's analysis is the proffer that this familial moment was the production of a truly national anxiety and sense of insecurity. A new scepticism, fuelled by political scaremongering and a wariness of the fragility of postwar booms, led Americans to retreat to the security of the nuclear family. As these Americans were children of the corking depression, the perceived dangers of postwar profligacy loomed prominently in the minds of many. Further, the fear of internal threats to the 'American way of life' and a perceived international instability on a new scale were pervasive (as demonstrated by McCarthyism and the cherry scare). This anomalous re-orientation of gild was, May argues, a defence machinery designed to reaffirm American values and provide a social and economic safety net. A wariness of the 'decadence' of New Bargain politics and the perceived dangers of national overspending led to the rise of a new economical conservatism and with it a new self-protectionist course of social conservatism that sought to gain security in the family, rather than through the national project. At home as on the global stage, 'containment' was the name of the game.
May's book offers a surprisingly wide and deep exploration of the family unit in the early Cold War era. She accepts the distinctly white and center class limitations of her study, arguing that African Americans were systematically excluded from the 'promises' of the new nuclear family unit through such policies as redlining, de facto segregation, and systemic racial discrimination. Her volume argues that although the new postal service state of war social order promised the end of class stratification and a new mobility, it only served to eternalize racial and gender stratification, creating the environment in which the new radicalism of the 1960s could foster and flourish.
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This is a very interesting topic with very interesting data that some people might find dry simply left me wanting to read more. Homeward Bound looks at the relationships of husbands and wives during the Cold War years. Elaine Tyler May uses information from the Kelly Longitudinal Study, which was conducted from 1935 - 1955. The KLS surveyed hundreds of married couples to go their thoughts on family dynamics including home life, work life, sex, and children. Attitudes obviously changed from the 30 This is a very interesting topic with very interesting information that some people might find dry out but left me wanting to read more than. Homeward Bound looks at the relationships of husbands and wives during the Cold War years. Elaine Tyler May uses data from the Kelly Longitudinal Written report, which was conducted from 1935 - 1955. The KLS surveyed hundreds of married couples to get their thoughts on family unit dynamics including home life, piece of work life, sexual practice, and children. Attitudes evidently changed from the 30s to the 50s. The author put the data in context with the country of the nation throughout the Cold War showing how families inverse and evolved. Attitudes on personal condom (the A-bomb / duck and encompass drills / personal fallout shelters), dating, contraception, family roles (a woman's place is in the dwelling house....or is it?), and children were also discussed.

At that place'south no humor here only I idea the book was somewhat engaging but at times repetitive or simply too much data being thrown at the reader. What was most interesting to me was to come across how attitudes changed over time. What I came away with is that many people were unhappy in their marriages and often married due to social norms and pressures to "have the platonic family life." Women hated beingness stuck at habitation to run the house when they had ambitions in life. They were expected to get to college to notice a husband, then bail on school or any other thoughts on a career to have children, wait on their husbands, and run the house. Men but treated women every bit lesser beings that were there to exist at their beck and telephone call. They were diff partners who needed to stay at home and make sure the kids were taken care of and sent off to school. By the time the 50s and 60s rolled effectually, women began to find their vocalization and feminist attitudes began to challenge the one-time norms. Many of the survey respondent's comments were eye-opening and entertaining. This volume volition certainly make you understand how far we have come and how family life has changed since the Cold State of war.

What I didn't get a experience for, was the variety of the surveyed couples. That is, were they all from a certain part of the state? Were they all urban, suburban, or rural couples? Financial and educational status was lightly discussed, but I didn't get a experience for whether the respondents were representative of the whole country or a specific area. Information technology may have mentioned it in the Appendix, merely I missed information technology if it did. I did like that the Appendix included the survey that was given.

Recommended for anyone interested in family dynamics post World War II.

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This is the book that made me want to go a historian.

Perhaps my expectations were poorly formed, simply I plant the chapter which dealt with the aftermath of World State of war 2, "War and Peace: Fanning the Home Fires," to exist somewhat uneven. May quite thoroughly lays out the occupational and economic changes for women workers both during and after the war. Her insight on the Women'south Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACS) and the Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) is equally pertinent to a discussion of the contribution women fabricated to the war effo Peradventure my expectations were poorly formed, but I plant the chapter which dealt with the backwash of World War II, "War and Peace: Fanning the Home Fires," to be somewhat uneven. May quite thoroughly lays out the occupational and economic changes for women workers both during and after the state of war. Her insight on the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACS) and the Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) is equally pertinent to a give-and-take of the contribution women made to the state of war endeavor. In fact, this treatment in detail could have been expanded to examine some of the very particular not-traditional roles women performed in military machine service at the time - for example, women serving as test pilots - which truly stretched the boundaries of mid-century notions of sexed occupations.

However, May's word of the challenges which faced returning male veterans, both in terms of their economic and occupational situations, also as their medical, psychological, and educational/vocational needs, was, at best, perfunctory. Mention is made of male notions of the quintessential young woman waiting "back home" every bit a sustaining ideal during service abroad, with important attention allocated to the response of American women to this pressure placed upon them. This betoken deserved expansion, as the readjustment of returning veterans to post-war America was linked to the reception they received past the women they had idolized during the state of war. At the aforementioned time, wounds, whether physical or mental, sustained during the war would non only follow the veteran for many years after the cessation of hostilities, but would in fact influence family life, sometimes through drug and alcohol abuse, emotional distance, or anger and abuse bug. Finally, the generation of men which fought World War II became the baseline for American masculinity by which their sons, who faced the crucible of Vietnam twenty years subsequently, were judged by themselves, their fathers, and American guild. May leaves this particular facet of American family life sadly and critically undeveloped.

This last particular, the cementing of a particular notion of American male masculinity, is the other side of a coin well-developed by May - the seeming hope of expanded socioeconomic roles for women during the Depression and World War 2 which prematurely was curtailed with the return of American servicemen following the war. That May specifically references in her Epilogue, the post-9/11 "elevation of male heroism" every bit a "widespread invocation of traditional gender roles" without substantially connecting the popular perpetuation of these roles to their reification during the immediate mail service-WWII years and the early portion of the Cold War, and most significantly, the challenges to this perception which began in earnest effectually the Vietnam War. The heated political rhetoric, saturated with overtones of male person virility, that surrounded the 2004 presidential election, which pitted John Kerry, a Vietnam State of war veteran decorated for combat valor, against a swain Baby Boomer who rode out his generation'due south crucible of masculinity in the Texas Air National Guard, should have merited some annotate on the continuation of these distinctive Cold War gender mores into the Global War on Terror.

The residual of the book is a fairly useful contrast of the post-war "platonic" middle class, white American domestic situation with the bodily lived experience of married couples matching that description, based nearly entirely on the Kelly Longitudinal Study (KLS), which surveyed precisely this demographic. May's book is rather shortsighted to contemporary eyes because it lacks substantive assay of non-white couples, and especially lacks enough focus on non-white women, a result of relying on the KLS.

This terminal shortcoming, combined with a fairly alarming lack on analysis on the constrictive gender norms which trapped returning male WWII veterans just equally effectively as women, limits the utility of May'southward piece of work in this book.

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A very interesting history of the post-war family, women's roles, and the fifties-era cult of "domesticity." A classic, and a very interesting read. A very interesting history of the mail-state of war family unit, women's roles, and the fifties-era cult of "domesticity." A classic, and a very interesting read. ...more

Feb 26, 2009 Nate rated it liked it

Elaine May's Homeward Bound asks why Americans made so much of family subsequently World War Two. The book makes an important contribution in that it historicizes the mid-20th century family. May notes that, and this certainly speaks to my own experiences growing upwards toward the end of the Common cold War, information technology is widely believed that the 1950s was the final hurrah of a longstanding form of the family. In fact, the plough to family after World War Two was precisely that, a plow, a change.

Homeward Bound starts relati

Elaine May's Homeward Bound asks why Americans fabricated so much of family after Globe War Two. The volume makes an of import contribution in that it historicizes the mid-20th century family. May notes that, and this certainly speaks to my own experiences growing upwards toward the end of the Cold War, it is widely believed that the 1950s was the final hurrah of a longstanding form of the family. In fact, the turn to family unit afterwards World War Two was precisely that, a turn, a modify.

Homeward Jump starts relatively belatedly in the period information technology analyzes, opening with the famous "kitchen debate" between Nixon and Kruschev. While information technology belatedly returns to the 1950s, the book moves backward in fourth dimension from the kitchen argue, focusing first on how the Low and so the Second World War impacted family structures. Both events changed the participation of women in the workforce. Women worked more outside the home, which shaped attitudes and desires around women's roles in family and work.

One key factor which fed into the creation the 1950s family unit was people'south perception of relative insecurity between the Depression, the Second Earth War, and the threat of nuclear annihilation after the state of war. Family became a way to achieve some feeling of security, and the drive toward family was in part a drive toward feeling secure. May stresses that other historical avenues were possible, even if they were ultimately not taken. By eroding men'south monopoly of the role as the then-chosen breadwinner, the Low and 2nd Earth War could accept given rise to a more than egalitarian family every bit opposed to the traditional - though new - family of the 1950s. In some respects, the unfulfilled potentials of state of war time became an engine for reaction against those potentials. As May writes, "sudden emancipation of women during wartime gave ascent to a suspicion surrounding democratic women." (77.)

The book draws on a variety of sources, including movies, popular magazines about celebrities, demographic data, and a series of surveys conducted with middle form families well-nigh their satisfaction with and thoughts well-nigh their marriages. The surveys allow May a remarkable window onto might be an otherwise difficult to grasp part of life. They likewise allow her to tell people'south very personal stories virtually marital happiness and unhappiness. The surveys allow a expect at aspects of people's lives which are simultaneously uniquely private every bit well as exemplary of larger social trends.

May'south work offers useful examples of how a historical statement and narrative can link issues of policy and attitudes in i part of guild with other social and cultural sites, and use very dissimilar sources. May links feelings of insecurity during and after Earth War Two with the increasingly widespread view that women'southward independence posed a danger to masculinity and thus to society. This could be a useful model for some of my on workplace injuries, law, and insurance in the early 20th century United States. I would like to expect at the theme risk and security across policy debates over workers' bounty, juries' attitudes toward piece of work, and popular perceptions of war. Just as May looked a gendered component of the Cold War and assessed the expansion and contraction of the range of opportunities for women, I would similar to come across if worker's compensation programs ultimately offered more or less opportunities for women and disabled people.

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Elaine Tyler May opened her book, Homeward Jump: American Families in the Cold War Era, with a description of a 1959 publicity stunt. A young couple, recently married, chooses to spend their honeymoon in a bomb shelter. Surrounded past consumer goods, the couple enters the bomb shelter for ii weeks and will accept goose egg more than for amusement than canned goods and each other. As May writes in the introduction, the couple epitomizes the image of the post-war family unit equally "isolated, sexually charged, Elaine Tyler May opened her volume, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, with a description of a 1959 publicity stunt. A young couple, recently married, chooses to spend their honeymoon in a bomb shelter. Surrounded by consumer appurtenances, the couple enters the bomb shelter for two weeks and will have nothing more for entertainment than canned goods and each other. As May writes in the introduction, the couple epitomizes the image of the mail service-war family as "isolated, sexually charged, cushioned by abundance, and protected against impending doom." (1)

As the volume progresses, May's thesis is clear: the Cold State of war/anti-communism/domestic bliss of the 1950s may have been ideal for men and children, just was detrimental to women, their sexuality, and their personal fulfillment. She connects the Cold War and anti-communism to the oppression of women. A whole generation was inundated with propaganda describing the platonic domestic life and anything that deviated from the norm was "bad". To back up her conclusions, May draws from popular culture, Hollywood, politics, and the Kelly Longitudinal Survey. These examples show how letters infiltrated the American psyche and helped form the attitudes of a generation of men and women towards union, child bearing, and life in the suburbs.

The 1950s was an era when, for the first time in decades, the nativity and marriage rates increased, and the age of marriage and divorce rates decreased. Pundits, scientists, and and so-chosen specialists advocated traditional gender roles and the submissiveness of women as a way to battle the spread of communism throughout the world. May shows how American domestic life mirrored the demand for security with the boxy ranch-style dwelling house, fenced in back yard, and the family spending fourth dimension indoors in front of the television set – all protected from the evils of the outside world.

May describes how the needs of 1950s women are suppressed and subservient to the needs of their husbands and children. May explains that this contradicted the previous gains women had made in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Women's emancipation movements started in the 1920s with suffrage. In the 1930s women went to work during the depression to help support their families and continued working in state of war industries during the 1940s. At the fourth dimension, even Hollywood contributed to the epitome of the strong, independent female with role models like Joan Crawford and Katherine Hepburn.

One of the more fascinating sources May uses is the Kelly Longitudinal Written report (KLS). The KLS is a long-term study interested in personality development equally well as the subjects' attitudes towards marriage, family life and social situations. Questions were answered in particular, oftentimes taking more room than allotted on the surveys. It is a window into the life and psyche of the "picture perfect" 1950s family, which shows that the moving picture wasn't and then perfect. Unfortunately, as May points out in her introduction, this study is limited to the affluent, white eye form and their experiences with marriage and family life. Her book is a cracking start to open further enquiry into the KLS study besides equally the lasting affects of the repression of women in the 1950s have had on later generations of women.

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Sep 25, 2015 Robert Forest rated it actually liked information technology

May looks at the new structures of white domesticity that ascend after World State of war II, in human relationship to the cold war. She argues that these are new structures, in response to the pressures of the cold war and the radical activism of the 1930's, rather than a throwback to old forms of family. Although well-nigh of her piece of work draws on the material from the KLS longitude study to see how middle class husbands and wives considered their positions in the family, the history shows how these structures were al May looks at the new structures of white domesticity that arise after World State of war II, in relationship to the cold war. She argues that these are new structures, in response to the pressures of the common cold war and the radical activism of the 1930's, rather than a throwback to old forms of family. Although virtually of her work draws on the fabric from the KLS longitude study to see how middle form husbands and wives considered their positions in the family, the history shows how these structures were also a production of country policy, from subsidies for housing to a variety of other policies. She then maps how this structure partially collapses in the 1960's and 1970's, although non completely. Worth the read. ...more

I had nearly forgotten how good this book is. I just reread it because I assigned two capacity to my Postwar America course. Next time I will probably have them read the whole book, or at least I volition add together the intro in considering it is solid. This is such a corking case of attainable cultural history. For those of y'all who take thought primarily almost the Cold War in terms of strange policy or anticommunist politics a la McCarthy, Homeward Bound is a fantastic and quick read that will expand your ide I had almost forgotten how skilful this book is. I merely reread information technology because I assigned ii chapters to my Postwar America course. Next time I will probably accept them read the whole book, or at least I volition add the intro in because it is solid. This is such a great example of attainable cultural history. For those of you who have thought primarily about the Cold War in terms of foreign policy or anticommunist politics a la McCarthy, Homeward Bound is a fantastic and quick read that volition expand your ideas nigh the Cold State of war habitation front end, gender, sexuality, and class. Information technology's ane of the few academic histories I would recommend to absolutely anyone. Read it! ...more than

May 29, 2007 kate rated it liked it

A good read with dandy showtime-hand accounts on matrimony, sex, family culture, and consumerism.

An incisive social history of family life during the Cold War containment of 1950s America. Investigates attitudes towards family, parenting, sex, consumerism. Particularly strong at connecting the rhetoric of the atomic age to the traditionalist attitudes towards family and gender prevalent at the time. Communism itself was branded as 'deviant' (similarly homosexuality was accounted Communist and subversive); those who repudiated the Cold War consensus were seen as traitors (though the book doesn' An incisive social history of family unit life during the Common cold State of war containment of 1950s America. Investigates attitudes towards family unit, parenting, sex, consumerism. Particularly stiff at connecting the rhetoric of the atomic historic period to the traditionalist attitudes towards family and gender prevalent at the time. Communism itself was branded as 'deviant' (similarly homosexuality was deemed Communist and subversive); those who repudiated the Cold War consensus were seen as traitors (though the book doesn't really talk over McCarthyism).

The last chapters of the book are particular lamentable - the author implicates a number of factors, including the field of professional psychology, as a strength in preventing women from beingness fully content, entering marriages early in life, taking on the burden of maintaining a home and raising a family unit, having given upward also much of their aspirations in sacrifice of maintaining the nuclear family. Whatever was sense of ambition from women was accounted a "neurotic tendency."

The earlier parts of the book are more fascinating and in my view more interesting and successful, especially the chapters that describe how the containment era evolved from the Depression and WWII.

Much of Professor May's testify derives from the KLS survey; at times the writing relies besides much on this survey data at the expense of other forms of bear witness, reading like a results / discussion department of an academic periodical commodity. Just I exercise concede the possibility that this methodology might have represented a breakaway from prior work by focusing on the voices of the individuals who lived during that menses.

Overall, May has written an authoritative history that is still relevant decades after initial publication - in a newly composed epilogue, this current edition connects the national political and social response to ix/xi to the Cold War attitudes of the mid-20th century. I'yard glad to take read this.

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For the past xl years or so, the 1950s has been held upward as some kind of "normal" in contrast to the 1960s and everything that followed. Particularly concerning the ii-parent family with full-time homemaker mom, which many people seem to think represents an American norm.
As May shows, that's not truthful. The 1950s (and to some extend the 1940s) were a break from the past with couples marrying younger than ever before and many women making housework and childcare their "career," some with joy, some For the past 40 years or so, the 1950s has been held up every bit some kind of "normal" in dissimilarity to the 1960s and everything that followed. Especially concerning the two-parent family with full-fourth dimension homemaker mom, which many people seem to think represents an American norm.
As May shows, that's not true. The 1950s (and to some extend the 1940s) were a pause from the by with couples marrying younger than ever earlier and many women making housework and childcare their "career," some with joy, some because even with a college degree they had no other path. May's book looks at the attitudes of the day, the cultural roots from which they grew and the brunt it imposed on women. Some women, even though they said their marriages were worth information technology, described problems (cheating husbands, domineering husbands, an inability to use their brains) that audio anything only happy.
Much to assimilate in this interesting piece of work. ...more

Important but unusual history. I re-read this book every bit I was interested in perusing it more deeply after initial exposure to its introductory arguments when studying for comps final yr. First published in 1988, May introduces original concepts and an interesting framework of domestic containment. But a shut reading reveals repetitive and heavy reliance on the same few sources throughout and a very unusual, almost other-disciplinary arroyo (for a history book). May seems more interested in pre Of import but unusual history. I re-read this book equally I was interested in perusing it more securely later on initial exposure to its introductory arguments when studying for comps concluding yr. Beginning published in 1988, May introduces original concepts and an interesting framework of domestic containment. But a close reading reveals repetitive and heavy reliance on the same few sources throughout and a very unusual, nigh other-disciplinary approach (for a history volume). May seems more interested in presenting a snapshot in time buttressed by sociological data, but with very little emphasis on historical actors, narrative storytelling, or change over fourth dimension. But sufficient historical context, and articulate, enjoyable writing are major strengths.
— In all, the book relays vital and interesting information merely is not a compelling historical work. ...more

December 13, 2019 Jennifer rated information technology it was amazing

A non secular primer that embodies the Doctrine of the Family. A nifty discussion about how families, especially women, weren't actually happy in the 1950s and why a return to "family values" didn't work then and won't work now.

Practiced to read. very interesting.

Jun twenty, 2021 Kiley Graham rated information technology really liked it

A actually interesting have on daily American life during the Cold War, it peculiarly dives into gender bug.

January 23, 2022 Kay rated it actually liked it

2022 GSHNJ Staff Book Challenge: A book virtually a family, families, or family life.

Apr 04, 2009 Tim rated it liked information technology

The 50s "was not, as common wisdom tells us, the terminal gasp of "traditional" family life with roots deep in the past. Rather, it was the first wholehearted endeavor to create a home that would fulfill virtually all its members' personal needs through an energized and expressive personal life." (11) This volume offers that provocative thesis and some substantive back up for its views (less then on the "energized and expressive personal life"). It is also a strong endeavour to dismiss the 50s as an platonic f The 50s "was non, as common wisdom tells us, the final gasp of "traditional" family life with roots deep in the past. Rather, it was the first wholehearted effort to create a home that would fulfill near all its members' personal needs through an energized and expressive personal life." (11) This volume offers that provocative thesis and some noun back up for its views (less so on the "energized and expressive personal life"). It is also a strong endeavour to dismiss the 50s as an ideal for family life, finding it more anomaly than historically continuous. But I recall she misses the ideal nature of the family image, an image that is consistently middle-grade, and existed back into the late 19th century. Only in the 1950s, later on low and world war, but also after the increased assimilation of immigrant groups and the dandy rise of the middle class and the suburb, could that ideal be approached on a broad footing. Such a motion-picture show of family life (nuclear family, several kids, dad at work, mom equally homemaker) offered the security and fifty-fifty the "containment" she highlights in Common cold War family life and it was readily accepted by the American population in the 1950s.
May is not then fond of the paradigm (including its "repressive" sexual ethic and minimal freedom for women) and in the end the book grated on me because she generates but small-scale amounts of sympathy and agreement for her subjects (lets try to explicate and empathize before we approximate). Her sympathy instead lies with the side by side generation (despite their narcissism that she reports quite conspicuously). "Rejecting familial security as the ways but retaining individual freedom and fulfillment as the ends, they carried forward the quest for liberation through politics as well as their personal lives." (15)
I call back class and consumption are handled in besides cursory a mode. Past relying on the Kelly Longitudinal Written report, the results of which are included in many chapters and dominates i almost exclusively, the book offers a especially white Protestant, upper middle class view of the post-war feel (and glides over the experience of newly middle-form and/or suburban non-protestants). Although she makes the interesting point that 1950s consumption centered on the home, the affiliate on consumption felt short on item to support its wider claims.
Just despite all that piling on, information technology is a good book to wrestle and fifty-fifty fence with because information technology makes more foreign what seems to be so familiar in the 50s sitcoms (aside from the Honeymooners). ...more than

I read this book for a second time for a class I'1000 profitable with. I had read it previously about 7 years ago for graduate exams. I had forgotten what a superbly written and compelling read it is. May does an fantabulous task of connecting the Common cold State of war policy of containment to the American domestic sphere by showing how many, many Americans bought into the "domestic ideology" of "sexual containment" (her name for it). Essentially, in lodge to keep the homeland prophylactic, Americans needed to contain thei I read this book for a 2nd fourth dimension for a class I'g profitable with. I had read it previously about 7 years ago for graduate exams. I had forgotten what a superbly written and compelling read it is. May does an excellent job of connecting the Cold State of war policy of containment to the American domestic sphere by showing how many, many Americans bought into the "domestic ideology" of "sexual containment" (her proper noun for it). Substantially, in order to keep the homeland condom, Americans needed to contain their sexual energy in marriage and brand a safe, secure, stable home life their goal. She argues that information technology was this ideology in combination with demographic factors that contributed to the babe boom of the 1940s and 1950s--a demographic trend at odds with the generally downward trend of the birth rate in the early 20th century. She also argues that it was this era in which the "traditional family values" so often touted in the tardily twentieth (and at present early 21st) century were actually created.

I really enjoyed reading it again. Information technology has some weaknesses, of course. She relies very heavily on survey data that came primarily from white, Protestant, middle class families, for example. Still, her argument is tightly written, and her prose is unusually engaging for an bookish monograph.

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Dec 19, 2007 sdw rated it actually liked it

Homeward spring is the classic examination of domesticity and the common cold war. May argues that the ideals of domesticity fit within cold war ideologies of containment. The 1950s family unit must be understood within the larger political framework of the era. Dangerous scary threats to order like the cantlet bomb, female sexuality, and communism all needed to be independent. Early on marriage with an erotic accuse and plentiful reproduction independent the dangers of sexuality and offering a de-politicized shelter Homeward spring is the classic examination of domesticity and the common cold war. May argues that the ideals of domesticity fit within cold state of war ideologies of containment. The 1950s family must be understood within the larger political framework of the era. Dangerous scary threats to society like the cantlet flop, female sexuality, and communism all needed to be contained. Early marriage with an erotic charge and plentiful reproduction contained the dangers of sexuality and offer a de-politicized shelter from the politics of the time. The abode became a "sphere of influence" where mothers nurtured consumerism and kept communism at bay. Parents contributed to the civic good through raising good children, rather than participating in public sphere debates. Turns to proficient advice and therapeutic solutions of adaptation replaced social change and struggle (ie – lets give you meds to brand you less broken-hearted rather than identify what structures pb to your stress).

May uses a lot of demographic evidence, combined with start person responses from white middle form married couples to understand the dynamics within their relationships. Marriage operated to the do good of capitalism. Men transitioned to more alienated positions at work as "organizational men" losing their sense of self and purpose on the job. Rather than struggle for a unlike organizational system of labor, they were encouraged to release the stresses of work in their home. Their sense of purpose was to be derived from their family unit life of centre class consumption rather than from their careers. Thus sitcoms emphasized the adult male's identity as Father and Husband and placed him squarely in the home.

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I did not particularly like this book, the author seemed to drone on about some of the subjects. It seemed to be well researched, but only mentioned one report of marriage and family unit life in the forties and fifties--the KLS report. I didn't experience similar I was learning annihilation new by reading this. As I said, the writer simply seemed to be repeating this several times throughout the chapter. The writing could have tighter, that would have fabricated the volume much more than interesting. It's difficult to read something I did not particularly similar this book, the author seemed to drone on almost some of the subjects. It seemed to be well researched, but merely mentioned one study of union and family life in the forties and fifties--the KLS study. I didn't feel like I was learning annihilation new by reading this. As I said, the writer just seemed to be repeating this several times throughout the chapter. The writing could have tighter, that would have fabricated the book much more than interesting. It'south hard to read something when the writer keeps mentioning the same things over and over.

I also believe she did not have to keep using the term "homeward bound" in almost EVERY chapter conclusion. I get that'due south the title of the book, and then yous don't need to keep bringing it upwards seemingly all the time. I did like how she mentioned the differences between white and blackness women, but rarely mentioned black women until the concluding chapter (which talked briefly nigh the Ceremonious Rights Move). Weren't minority families important in the Common cold War era also? Information technology'due south strange that the author just arbitrarily mentions blacks in relations to whites,but doesn't experience the need to become into detail. What near Hispanic or Asian families? These people aren't mentioned at all. This bewitched me.

I didn't feel as though the epilogue added anything to the book at all. Maybe it was but a way to stay more current? It was more most the war on terror than most families, in my stance. I understand that after 9/xi people were frightened, just similar during the Common cold State of war (at to the lowest degree in the outset) but the similarities finish there for me. The author seemed to stretch her indicate a bit too far.

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Nov 26, 2015 Craig Werner rated it it was astonishing

One of the best books I've encountered in 2 years of immersion in post-war American history. It was curious reading Homeward Leap and realizing that I'd internalized many of May'southward arguments about the human relationship between the Common cold War and what she calls "domestic containment" without knowing where they'd originated. The core of May'southward argument is that Americans turned to the domestic sphere in large part because they were seeking some sort of stability in the confront of the standoff betwixt the U. I of the best books I've encountered in two years of immersion in post-war American history. It was curious reading Homeward Bound and realizing that I'd internalized many of May'south arguments about the relationship between the Common cold War and what she calls "domestic containment" without knowing where they'd originated. The core of May's argument is that Americans turned to the domestic sphere in large part considering they were seeking some sort of stability in the face of the standoff between the U.South. and the The statesS.R. which many expected to go nuclear at any fourth dimension. She delineates the arguments that equated sexual repression with anti-communism and makes the connexion with the peculiarly breathless stance on race, that attempted to assure the earth that African Americans were included in postal service-war American prosperity while propagating all sorts of policies that made attaining that prosperity difficult to impossible. While May's primary focus is on the late 1940s and 1950s, her final chapter links the unresolvable tensions of the 50s--primarily the delivery of women to upholding a sort of carve up spheres ideology that was becoming both economically and psychologically (not to mention sexually) non-viable.

Homeward Bound is written with admirable clarity. It's conceptually sophisticated just jargon-free. This is what history would be. This goes on the A list for anyone interested in mail service-war America.

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Jan 22, 2017 Tyler rated it liked it

A very interesting book about an interesting fourth dimension in American history when union & family was heavily emphasized in our culture and politics. The book was well-researched and I thought her arguments were mostly well-founded.

The author is definitely a feminist and sometimes it shows pretty heavy-handedly and in a few cases I thought that viewpoint made her statement a little over the top. In that location were places where she refers to women who take additional career options every bit being "emancipated" fr

A very interesting volume near an interesting time in American history when marriage & family was heavily emphasized in our culture and politics. The book was well-researched and I thought her arguments were generally well-founded.

The author is definitely a feminist and sometimes information technology shows pretty heavy-handedly and in a few cases I thought that viewpoint made her argument a little over the elevation. There were places where she refers to women who accept boosted career options as being "emancipated" from their function equally homemakers, which I observe distasteful. She does point out that beingness a homemaker was a financially logical optional at the time, due to relatively express options in jobs and careers, but she never seems to honestly acknowledge that some women-- even those who Practice accept other options-- genuinely desire to be stay at habitation Moms and Do find it fulfilling. She cites a lot of prove well-nigh women who feel unfulfilled by their part as homemakers, but downplays the statements of women that say they plant being mothers very satisfying and bringing joy to their lives as "settling" or trying to make the best of a bad situation. I disagreed with that part of her statement.

There are interesting parallels between the themes of Fear and Security that were dealt with in the early Cold War menstruum and the same bug that we face in the mod world today. Very interesting to remember almost.

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May 23, 2007 Cindy rated information technology really liked it

I will admit, I read this for a class and never would have picked it up otherwise. If yous're into the Cold State of war, 1950s civilization, or what life would be like without feminism, information technology'southward definitely a skilful read.

The Big Idea in the 50s was the containment of Communism. Elaine May takes this containment idea and writes nigh how it applied to pretty much everything. American was i contained place. For example, sexuality was okay, as long as information technology was contained inside a wedlock, but very not okay otherwise. T

I will acknowledge, I read this for a class and never would have picked information technology up otherwise. If you're into the Cold War, 1950s culture, or what life would be like without feminism, it's definitely a good read.

The Big Idea in the 50s was the containment of Communism. Elaine May takes this containment idea and writes nigh how information technology practical to pretty much everything. American was one contained place. For example, sexuality was okay, equally long as it was contained within a marriage, but very non okay otherwise. Teenagers, of course, wanted to bang so they were encouraged to marry younger and younger. So the banging was contained, with the added bonus that everyone had as many babies as possible so nosotros could repopulate after a nuclear attack. Strange times.

May focuses pretty much merely on white middle course suburban families, which you could criticize her for, but so once more you accept to get specific if you're writing a book on something as big as "the family in the 1950s." Every bit usual, I'thou left wanting to hear nigh what the homos were doing.

If you lot similar reading near 2nd wave feminism, this book is a pretty ideal lead upwardly to The Feminine Mystique. May writes more than about housewives than anyone else, and The Feminine Mystique is all nearly the period when housewives realized they were beingness cheated out of um, their identities as unique individuals.

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December 29, 2011 Laura rated it really liked it

I'm currently taking a 20th Century America class (I'm Canadian..FYI) for schoolhouse and it's really proving to be quite interesting. For part of the grade, you lot accept to practice a not-fiction book report, from a set list, and I chose Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May for well, the reason higher up.

Focusing on families and family dynamics (the Babe Boom, women's role in the family etc.) in America during the 50s and the Cold War Era, May is able to give a personal and informative look into the era. Using a

I'k currently taking a 20th Century America class (I'k Canadian..FYI) for schoolhouse and it's actually proving to be quite interesting. For part of the class, y'all have to exercise a non-fiction volume report, from a ready list, and I chose Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May for well, the reason above.

Focusing on families and family dynamics (the Babe Boom, women's role in the family etc.) in America during the 50s and the Cold War Era, May is able to requite a personal and informative look into the era. Using a lot of pop culture references throughout, the book remains mostly factual base of operations but in an easy to digest form.
May's primary statement in Homeward Bound is that during the Cold War there was a conventionalities that "containment was fundamental," in order to protect you lot from the exterior "threatening" forces at the time. (Nuclear weapons, the Soviet Union etc.) With this in listen, Americans were "homeward bound," in the sense that they were creating a safe and contained family structure and home.

In the updated prologue of Homeward Bound, May does well to connect the post-9/11 feeling with that of the Cold War era.

Proving to be a very interesting read, Homeward Bound, is both a dandy and informative read for academic and leisure reading purposes.

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I was looking for a social history for after the greatest war that history had produced. This came highly recommended. The problem with it is that while I am enlightened of the sexual symbology of the Cold State of war era I recollect it is going a chip overboard to define information technology by the sexual hang-ups of Caucasian-Americans. May provides some good and even of import data but you would think when y'all read the volume that we engaged in the Cold War with Communism, Containment, and all of those buzzwords that surrou I was looking for a social history for after the greatest war that history had produced. This came highly recommended. The trouble with it is that while I am aware of the sexual symbology of the Cold State of war era I think it is going a bit overboard to ascertain it by the sexual hang-ups of Caucasian-Americans. May provides some good and even important information but you would think when you read the volume that we engaged in the Cold State of war with Communism, Containment, and all of those buzzwords that surrounded the era because we were sexually repressed. Be wary of historians who oversimplify history. They are an impediment to understanding information technology.

On the other hand the book is quite readable and there are some very interesting insights regarding the uniqueness of post-World War Ii America in relation to the rest of our history, specially the generation that saw Globe War One and the Great Low. It is a valuable resources for someone interested in social history.

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November 03, 2009 Madeline rated it actually liked information technology

really interesting look at the politics (both public and individual) of containment, gender roles in the nuclear family, and how those roles manifested themselves during wwII and the nuclear arms race. largely draws from a report done on new england couples at diverse points in their marriage at a time when the marriage age dropped and *everyone* was getting married. fascinating answers from the study highlight how sex was viewed before and during marriage for women vs. men, allegiance, womens' career actually interesting await at the politics (both public and private) of containment, gender roles in the nuclear family, and how those roles manifested themselves during wwII and the nuclear artillery race. largely draws from a study washed on new england couples at diverse points in their wedlock at a time when the marriage age dropped and *everyone* was getting married. fascinating answers from the report highlight how sex was viewed before and during marriage for women vs. men, fidelity, womens' careers, and fulfillment from having children, amidst other things. i often think about this volume when i'g watching mad men. ...more than

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