Audiobook11 hours
The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live
Written by Danielle Dreilinger
Narrated by Rachel Perry
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The term "home economics" may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken muffins. But common conception obscures the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople. And it has something to teach us today.
In the surprising, often fiercely feminist, and always fascinating The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field's history from Black colleges to Eleanor Roosevelt to Okinawa, from a Betty Crocker brigade to DIY techies. These women-and they were mostly women-became chemists and marketers, studied nutrition, health, and exercise, tested parachutes, created astronaut food, and took bold steps in childhood development and education.
Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them. Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by women of color who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics' women, as they chose to be single, share lives with other women, or try for egalitarian marriages.
In the surprising, often fiercely feminist, and always fascinating The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field's history from Black colleges to Eleanor Roosevelt to Okinawa, from a Betty Crocker brigade to DIY techies. These women-and they were mostly women-became chemists and marketers, studied nutrition, health, and exercise, tested parachutes, created astronaut food, and took bold steps in childhood development and education.
Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them. Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by women of color who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics' women, as they chose to be single, share lives with other women, or try for egalitarian marriages.
Related to The Secret History of Home Economics
Related audiobooks
Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner?: A Story of Women and Economics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Threads of Life: A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Season: A Social History of the Debutante Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Matrimony, Inc.: From Personal Ads to Swiping Right, a Story of America Looking for Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConsider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s “Girl Stunt Reporters” Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Truth about Baked Beans: An Edible History of New England Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Corsets and Codpieces: A History of Outrageous Fashion, from Roman Times to the Modern Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women's Rights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Edible History of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Take Back the Tray: Revolutionizing Food in Hospitals, Schools, and Other Institutions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Economics For You
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freakonomics Rev Ed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Economics 101: How the World Works Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Marvel Comics: The Untold Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Economics 101: From Consumer Behavior to Competitive Markets—Everything You Need to Know About Economics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nudge: The Final Edition: Improving Decisions About Money, Health, And The Environment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chip War: The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why the Rich Are Getting Richer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What We Owe Each Other: A New Social Contract for a Better Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Secret History of Home Economics
Rating: 4.363636363636363 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
11 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is probably better read than listened. Many names, and without a bibliography and photos it is lacking something.