The Modernization of Fatherhood: A Social and Political HistoryThe period between World War I and World War II was an important time in the history of gender relations, and of American fatherhood. Revealing the surprising extent to which some of yesterday's fathers were involved with their children, The Modernization of Fatherhood recounts how fatherhood was reshaped during the Machine Age into the configuration we know today. LaRossa explains that during the interwar period the image of the father as economic provider, pal, and male role model, all in one, became institutionalized. Using personal letters and popular magazine and newspaper sources, he explores how the social and economic conditions of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression—a period of technical innovation as well as economic hardship—fused these expectations into a cultural ideal. With chapters on the U.S. Children's Bureau, the fathercraft movement, the magazine industry and the development of Parent's Magazine, and the creation of Father's Day, this book is a major addition to the growing literature on masculinity and fatherhood. |
Contents
1 The Modernization of Fatherhood | 1 |
2 The Histroical Roots of Standard North American Fatherhood | 21 |
3 Fatherhood and the Baby Doctors | 41 |
4 Men and Infants | 63 |
Illustrations | 89 |
5 Fathercraft | 89 |
6 Fatherhood and the Popular Press | 118 |
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advice American fatherhood Angelo Patri Papers asked Association of America chapter Chicago Chicago Defender chil Child Study Association child study group child-rearing Children's Bureau Papers CSAA culture of daddyhood culture of fatherhood daddy daughters Day and Mother's Depression diaper discussion domestic masculinity early twentieth century edition of Infant example experts fact father as pal father-to-father books Father's Day fathercraft fatherhood articles Fatherhood in America fathers and mothers feeding female gender Griswold Gruenberg historians holiday husband Ibid Infant Care John Demos Julia Lathrop June letters Library of Congress lumping and splitting Machine Age magazine articles male role model manual masculine domesticity men's middle class milk modernization of fatherhood motherhood movement National Archives parent education parenthood percent politics problem child published rearing SNAF sons talk theoretical sample things tion University of Minnesota women World War II wrote yesterday's fathers York