The way to a man's heart: Gender roles, domestic ideology, and cookbooks in the 1950s

Journal of Social History

Volumn 32, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 529-555

  Neuhaus, Jessamyn ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033096464     PISSN: 00224529     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jsh/32.3.529     Document Type: Article

References (191)

1. Dorothy Hurst, Walter E. Botthof, Mary Barber, Don Clark, eds., To the Bride (Milwaukee, WI, 1956). Dr. Janet Farrell Brodie kindly, and with her usual gracious good humor, presented this volume to me on the occasion of my own wedding.
2. Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York, 1963, 1974). Friedan's text is not the work of a historian, but is a psychological/cultural analysis of then-present social conditions. She argues that the combined effects of media, Freudian thought, functionalism, and advertising created a feminine mystique which trapped women into being identified solely as wives and mothers, at great cost to their intellectual and emotional health.
3. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
4. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
5. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
6. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
7. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
8. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
9. Harriet Hyman Alonso, "Mayhem and Moderation: Women Peace Activists During the McCarthy Era," in Not June Cleaver: Women and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960, ed. Joanne Meyerowitz (Philadelphia, 1994); Birmingham Feminist History Group, "Feminism as Femininity in the Nineteen Fifties?" Feminist Review 3 (1979): 48-65; Cynthia Harrison, On Account of Sex: The Politics of Women's Issues, 195-1968 (Berkeley, 1988); Susan Lynn, Progressive Women in Conservative Times: Racial Justice, Peace, and Feminism, 1945 to the 1960s (New Brunswick, NJ, 1992); Leila J. Rupp and Verta Taylor, Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s (New York, 1987); Amy Swerdlow, "The Congress of American Women: Left-Feminist Peace Politics in the Cold War," in Linda K. Kerber, Alice Kessler-Harris, and Kathryn Kish Sklar, U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays (Chapel Hill, 1995). See also "They Make Their Voices Heard" and "Victory from Defeat" (Ladies Home Journal June, March 1953): 54-55. These two articles describe housewives' involvement in political activities. Significant to this paper is the description of how one mother of three did not let her volunteer duties interfere with feeding her family: "Fortunately, it [the phone] is at the end of the counter where I give the family breakfast and lunch, so I could stir the soup with one hand, knead the bread with the other, and still talk or listen with the phone propped on my shoulder" (54)!
10. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
11. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
12. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
13. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
14. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
15. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
16. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
17. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
18. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
19. See, for example, Joyce Antler, "Between Culture and Politics: The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs and the Promulgation of Women's History, 1944-1989," in Kerber, Kessler-Harris, and Sklar, eds., U. S. History as Women's History; Xiaolan Bao, "When Women Arrived: The Transformation of New York's Chinatown," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Ruth Feldstein, "'I Wanted the Whole World to See:' Race, Gender, and Constructions of Motherhood in the Death of Emmett Till," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; David J. Garrow, ed., The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It: The Memoir of Jo Ann Gibson Robinson (Knoxville, 1987); Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (New York, 1968); Margaret Rose, "Gender and Civic Activism in Mexican American Barrios in California: The Community Service Organization, 1947-1962," in Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver, Ricki Solinger, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade (New York, 1992). On lesbian experiences during the 1950s, see Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: A History of a Lesbian Community (New York, 1993), John D'Emilio, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (Chicago, 1983), Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York, 1991).
20. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
21. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
22. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
23. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
24. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
25. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
26. Wini Breines, Young, White, and Miserable: Growing Up Female in the Fifties (Boston, 1992); Susan J. Douglas, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (New York, 1994); Margaret Finnegan, "From Spurs to Silk Stockings: Women in Prime-Time Television, 1950-1965," The UCLA Historical Journal 11 (1991): 1-30; Brandon French, On the Verge of Revolt: Women in American Films of the Fifties (New York, 1978); Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver; Andrea Press, Women Watching Television: Gender, Class, and Generation in the American Television Experience (Philadelphia, 1991); Nancy Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles: The 'Funny' Feminism of the Post-World War II Suburbs," American Quarterly 37 (1985): 99-113.
27. In my understanding of the postwar era, "the Fifties" began with the end of World War II and closed with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and the publication of The Feminine Mystique.
28. Barbara Heber, Curator, Culinary Collection, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College, as quoted in Erika Endrijonas, "No Experience Required: American Middle-class Families and Their Cookbooks, 1945-1960," (Ph.D. diss., University of Southern California, 1966), 11.
29. See, for example, Ann D. Gordon, Meri Jo Buhle, and Nancy Schrom Dye, "The Problem of Women's History," in Bernice A. Carroll, ed., Liberating Women's History (Urbana, IL, 1976), 75-92.
30. Connie Miller with Corinna Treitel, Feminist Research Methods: An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1991), 112 and 121. See also Susan Strasser, Never Done: A History of American Housework (New York, 1982), xii.
31. Connie Miller with Corinna Treitel, Feminist Research Methods: An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1991), 112 and 121. See also Susan Strasser, Never Done: A History of American Housework (New York, 1982), xii.
32. Joan Wallach Scott, "Experience," in Judith Butler and Joan W. Scott, eds., Feminists Theorize the Political (New York, 1992), 33.
33. For an example of the former characterization, see Marge Piercy, Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt (Ann Arbor, 1982), For an analysis of how, in an American nostalgic view of history, the 1950s remain "the privileged lost object of desire," see Frederic Jameson, "Postmodernism, Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism," 67, as quoted in John Storey, An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture (Athens, 1993).
34. For an example of the former characterization, see Marge Piercy, Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt (Ann Arbor, 1982), For an analysis of how, in an American nostalgic view of history, the 1950s remain "the privileged lost object of desire," see Frederic Jameson, "Postmodernism, Or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism," 67, as quoted in John Storey, An Introductory Guide to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture (Athens, 1993).
35. For documentation of that pressure, see for example Brett Harvey, The Fifties: A Women's Oral History (New York, 1993).
36. M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating (New York, 1976); Harvey Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York, 1993); Sarah Newton, "The Jell-O Syndrome: Investigating Popular Culture/Foodways," Western Folklore (July 1992): 249-267; Laura Shapiro, Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (New York, 1986).
37. M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating (New York, 1976); Harvey Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York, 1993); Sarah Newton, "The Jell-O Syndrome: Investigating Popular Culture/Foodways," Western Folklore (July 1992): 249-267; Laura Shapiro, Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (New York, 1986).
38. M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating (New York, 1976); Harvey Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York, 1993); Sarah Newton, "The Jell-O Syndrome: Investigating Popular Culture/Foodways," Western Folklore (July 1992): 249-267; Laura Shapiro, Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (New York, 1986).
39. M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating (New York, 1976); Harvey Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America (New York, 1993); Sarah Newton, "The Jell-O Syndrome: Investigating Popular Culture/Foodways," Western Folklore (July 1992): 249-267; Laura Shapiro, Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (New York, 1986).
40. Class issues are also revealed when a historian explores the issue of who is expected to do the cooking for a family.
41. Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty, 89. See also Nicola Humble, "A Touch of Bohème: Cookery Books as Documents of Desires, Fears, and Hopes," Times Literary Supplement 14 June 1996, 15-16.
42. Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty, 89. See also Nicola Humble, "A Touch of Bohème: Cookery Books as Documents of Desires, Fears, and Hopes," Times Literary Supplement 14 June 1996, 15-16.
43. Anne Mendelson, Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America the Joy of Cooking (New York, 1996), 106. The full title of the Simmons text is American Cookery, or The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes.
44. Michael Stern and Jane Stern, Square Meals (New York, 1985), 199-200.
45. Stern, Square Meals, 241-242.
46. Sydney Flynn, "My Mother's Cookbook," McCall's, May 1987, 52.
47. Levenstein, Paradox of Plenty, 116.
48. Edith Barber, Silver Jubilee Super Market Super Market Cook Book (New York, 1940, 1946, 1955), xv.
49. See Joshua Gitelson, "Populox: The Suburban Cuisine of the 1950s," Journal of American Culture 15 (Fall 1992): 73-78; Humble, "A Touch of Bohème"; Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty; Karal Ann Marling As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge, MA, 1994); Stern and Stern, Square Meals.
50. See Joshua Gitelson, "Populox: The Suburban Cuisine of the 1950s," Journal of American Culture 15 (Fall 1992): 73-78; Humble, "A Touch of Bohème"; Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty; Karal Ann Marling As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge, MA, 1994); Stern and Stern, Square Meals.
51. See Joshua Gitelson, "Populox: The Suburban Cuisine of the 1950s," Journal of American Culture 15 (Fall 1992): 73-78; Humble, "A Touch of Bohème"; Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty; Karal Ann Marling As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge, MA, 1994); Stern and Stern, Square Meals.
52. See Joshua Gitelson, "Populox: The Suburban Cuisine of the 1950s," Journal of American Culture 15 (Fall 1992): 73-78; Humble, "A Touch of Bohème"; Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty; Karal Ann Marling As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge, MA, 1994); Stern and Stern, Square Meals.
53. See Joshua Gitelson, "Populox: The Suburban Cuisine of the 1950s," Journal of American Culture 15 (Fall 1992): 73-78; Humble, "A Touch of Bohème"; Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty; Karal Ann Marling As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge, MA, 1994); Stern and Stern, Square Meals.
54. Margaret Cusser and Mary L. De Give, Twixt the Cup and the Lip: Psychology and Sociological Cultural Factors Affecting Food Habits (New York, 1952), 168.
55. Cussler and De Give, Twixt the Cup and the Lip, 35.
56. Marion Young Taylor, Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments (New York, 1954); The Seventeen Cookbook (New York, 1963).
57. Marion Young Taylor, Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments (New York, 1954); The Seventeen Cookbook (New York, 1963).
58. Food Favorites (U.S.A., 1951).
59. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 123.
60. Adventures in Flavor . . . with Kraft Dressings (Chicago, No Date); Betty Cracker's Bisquick Cook Book (U.S.A., 1956); Knudsen Recipes (San Bernadino, 1958).
61. Adventures in Flavor . . . with Kraft Dressings (Chicago, No Date); Betty Cracker's Bisquick Cook Book (U.S.A., 1956); Knudsen Recipes (San Bernadino, 1958).
62. Adventures in Flavor . . . with Kraft Dressings (Chicago, No Date); Betty Cracker's Bisquick Cook Book (U.S.A., 1956); Knudsen Recipes (San Bernadino, 1958).
63. Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook (New York, 1950). Betty Crocker is a fictional character invented by General Mills, to give a reassuring, motherly face to their recipes and products.
64. Patrick L. Coyle, Cooks' Books: An Affectionate Guide to the Literature of Food (New York, 1985), 25; Marling, As Seen on TV, 203.
65. Patrick L. Coyle, Cooks' Books: An Affectionate Guide to the Literature of Food (New York, 1985), 25; Marling, As Seen on TV, 203.
66. Sarah Alaxander, Mr. & Mrs. Roto-Broil Cook-Book (New York, 1955); Nedda Casson Ander, Complete Cookbook for Infra-Red Broiler and Rotisserie (New York, 1953); Ruth Ellen Church, Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender (Indianapolis, 1952); Margaret Mitchell, Cutco Cook Book: Meat and Poultry Cookery (New Kensington, PA, 1961); Waring Blender Cook Book (New York, 1955). Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender is somewhat of an exception, stating that your new blender is so much fun that you will actually spend more time cooking and entertaining.
67. Sarah Alaxander, Mr. & Mrs. Roto-Broil Cook-Book (New York, 1955); Nedda Casson Ander, Complete Cookbook for Infra-Red Broiler and Rotisserie (New York, 1953); Ruth Ellen Church, Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender (Indianapolis, 1952); Margaret Mitchell, Cutco Cook Book: Meat and Poultry Cookery (New Kensington, PA, 1961); Waring Blender Cook Book (New York, 1955). Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender is somewhat of an exception, stating that your new blender is so much fun that you will actually spend more time cooking and entertaining.
68. Sarah Alaxander, Mr. & Mrs. Roto-Broil Cook-Book (New York, 1955); Nedda Casson Ander, Complete Cookbook for Infra-Red Broiler and Rotisserie (New York, 1953); Ruth Ellen Church, Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender (Indianapolis, 1952); Margaret Mitchell, Cutco Cook Book: Meat and Poultry Cookery (New Kensington, PA, 1961); Waring Blender Cook Book (New York, 1955). Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender is somewhat of an exception, stating that your new blender is so much fun that you will actually spend more time cooking and entertaining.
69. Sarah Alaxander, Mr. & Mrs. Roto-Broil Cook-Book (New York, 1955); Nedda Casson Ander, Complete Cookbook for Infra-Red Broiler and Rotisserie (New York, 1953); Ruth Ellen Church, Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender (Indianapolis, 1952); Margaret Mitchell, Cutco Cook Book: Meat and Poultry Cookery (New Kensington, PA, 1961); Waring Blender Cook Book (New York, 1955). Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender is somewhat of an exception, stating that your new blender is so much fun that you will actually spend more time cooking and entertaining.
70. Sarah Alaxander, Mr. & Mrs. Roto-Broil Cook-Book (New York, 1955); Nedda Casson Ander, Complete Cookbook for Infra-Red Broiler and Rotisserie (New York, 1953); Ruth Ellen Church, Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender (Indianapolis, 1952); Margaret Mitchell, Cutco Cook Book: Meat and Poultry Cookery (New Kensington, PA, 1961); Waring Blender Cook Book (New York, 1955). Mary Meade's Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender is somewhat of an exception, stating that your new blender is so much fun that you will actually spend more time cooking and entertaining.
71. 38 Answers to What's Cooking? (U.S.A., 1961), 3.
72. I question the possibilities for creativity espoused by many of these cookbooks, though I do not by any means dismiss the possibility. I believe Gitelson overestimates the possible creative outlet found in postwar cooking when he asserts "Often, when housewives combined two antipodal ingredients, it was a reaction against the cultural homogeneity of Suburbia. Dinner time became an opportunity to flee to far away place, a meta-escape from an escapist haven" (Gitelson, "Populox," 75). I am more inclined to agree with Dr. Robert Dawidoff, who argues that suburban entertaining, with its party themes and more elaborate dishes, offered women a break in routine and a chance for some self-expression. Dr. Robert Dawidoff, conversation with author, January 1996.
73. Marling, As Seen on TV, 222.
74. Barber, Silver Jubilee, vii.
75. Stern and Stern, Square Meals, 274.
76. Good Housekeeping's Company Meals and Buffets (Chicago, 1958), 22, 12.
77. I am grateful to Dr. John Neuhaus and A. Lori Neuhaus for bringing this text to my attention.
78. The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook (New York, 1959), 121-154.
79. Roland Barthes, Mythologies, trans. Annette Lavers (New York, 1957, 1972), 79.
80. Barthes, Mythologies, 78.
81. Good Housekeeping's Hamburger and Hot Dog Book (Chicago, 1958) 22, 27.
82. 500 Delicious Dishes from Leftovers (Chicago, 1952) 27.
83. Gitelson, "Populox," 75-76.
84. Newton, "'The Jell-O Syndrome,'" 252.
85. Stern and Stern, Square Meals, 296.
86. Marling, As Seen on TV, 222.
87. The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 1.
88. The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 207.
89. Toby Stein, How to Appeal to a Man's Appetites : Recifies, Cookery, and Related Pleasures (New York, 1962), 184.
90. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 133.
91. M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating (New York, 1976).
92. Cussler and De Give, Betwixt the Cup and Lip, 198.
93. In a cursory chapter on this topic, Endrijonas notes that "Numerous cookbooks published in the postwar years focused on regional and ethnic cooking" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 192). For examples of such cookbooks, see Amuay Cooking Capers (Fort Worth, TX, 1952); Ada Boni, The Talisman Italian Cook Book, trans. Matilde La Rosa (New York, 1950, 1955); Elena Zelayeta, Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking (Englewood Cliffs, 1958).
94. In a cursory chapter on this topic, Endrijonas notes that "Numerous cookbooks published in the postwar years focused on regional and ethnic cooking" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 192). For examples of such cookbooks, see Amuay Cooking Capers (Fort Worth, TX, 1952); Ada Boni, The Talisman Italian Cook Book, trans. Matilde La Rosa (New York, 1950, 1955); Elena Zelayeta, Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking (Englewood Cliffs, 1958).
95. In a cursory chapter on this topic, Endrijonas notes that "Numerous cookbooks published in the postwar years focused on regional and ethnic cooking" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 192). For examples of such cookbooks, see Amuay Cooking Capers (Fort Worth, TX, 1952); Ada Boni, The Talisman Italian Cook Book, trans. Matilde La Rosa (New York, 1950, 1955); Elena Zelayeta, Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking (Englewood Cliffs, 1958).
96. In a cursory chapter on this topic, Endrijonas notes that "Numerous cookbooks published in the postwar years focused on regional and ethnic cooking" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 192). For examples of such cookbooks, see Amuay Cooking Capers (Fort Worth, TX, 1952); Ada Boni, The Talisman Italian Cook Book, trans. Matilde La Rosa (New York, 1950, 1955); Elena Zelayeta, Elena's Secrets of Mexican Cooking (Englewood Cliffs, 1958).
97. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 131.
98. Patricia Storace, "Repasts Past: Delicious Memories from Antique Cookbooks," House and Garden, June 1986, 62. And Endrijonas comments: "While they rarely tell a story all on their own, cookbooks reveal the texture of the time and culture in which they were written" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 1).
99. Patricia Storace, "Repasts Past: Delicious Memories from Antique Cookbooks," House and Garden, June 1986, 62. And Endrijonas comments: "While they rarely tell a story all on their own, cookbooks reveal the texture of the time and culture in which they were written" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 1).
100. For explorations of eighteenth and nineteenth century cookbooks, see Charlsie Berly, "Early American Cookbooks (1783-1861): Windows on Household Life and a Developing Culture," Lomar Journal of Humanities 14 (1988): 5-10; Mildred Jailer, "Bible for the Happy Housewife," Antiques, and Collecting (February 1993): 18-20; Janet Theophano, "A Life's Work: Women Writing from the Kitchen," Fields, of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Goldstein, Roger D. Abrahams, ed. (Bloomington, 1995): 287-299; Thomas H. Wolf, "Once Upon a Time a Cookbook Was a Recipe for Excess," Smithsonian (November 1991): 118-130.
101. For explorations of eighteenth and nineteenth century cookbooks, see Charlsie Berly, "Early American Cookbooks (1783-1861): Windows on Household Life and a Developing Culture," Lomar Journal of Humanities 14 (1988): 5-10; Mildred Jailer, "Bible for the Happy Housewife," Antiques, and Collecting (February 1993): 18-20; Janet Theophano, "A Life's Work: Women Writing from the Kitchen," Fields, of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Goldstein, Roger D. Abrahams, ed. (Bloomington, 1995): 287-299; Thomas H. Wolf, "Once Upon a Time a Cookbook Was a Recipe for Excess," Smithsonian (November 1991): 118-130.
102. For explorations of eighteenth and nineteenth century cookbooks, see Charlsie Berly, "Early American Cookbooks (1783-1861): Windows on Household Life and a Developing Culture," Lomar Journal of Humanities 14 (1988): 5-10; Mildred Jailer, "Bible for the Happy Housewife," Antiques, and Collecting (February 1993): 18-20; Janet Theophano, "A Life's Work: Women Writing from the Kitchen," Fields, of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Goldstein, Roger D. Abrahams, ed. (Bloomington, 1995): 287-299; Thomas H. Wolf, "Once Upon a Time a Cookbook Was a Recipe for Excess," Smithsonian (November 1991): 118-130.
103. For explorations of eighteenth and nineteenth century cookbooks, see Charlsie Berly, "Early American Cookbooks (1783-1861): Windows on Household Life and a Developing Culture," Lomar Journal of Humanities 14 (1988): 5-10; Mildred Jailer, "Bible for the Happy Housewife," Antiques, and Collecting (February 1993): 18-20; Janet Theophano, "A Life's Work: Women Writing from the Kitchen," Fields, of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Kenneth S. Goldstein, Roger D. Abrahams, ed. (Bloomington, 1995): 287-299; Thomas H. Wolf, "Once Upon a Time a Cookbook Was a Recipe for Excess," Smithsonian (November 1991): 118-130.
104. Betty Fussell, "Reading Food: There's a Mythological Construct in My Soup," New York Times Book Review 24 September 1989, 36.
105. Lynn Ireland, "The Compiled Cookbook as Foodways Autobiography," Western Folklore (January 1981), 111.
106. Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 212.
107. Theophano, "A Life's Work," 293.
108. Strasser, Never Done: A History of American Housework, 185.
109. Humble, "A Touch of Bohème," 15.
110. As the Sterns write, "Recipes are not arbitrary formulas for appetizers, entrées and dessert; they are affirmations of values and cultural priorities." (Stern and Stern, Square Meals, xiv.)
111. See Susan M. Hartmann, "Women's Employment and the Domestic Ideal in the Early Cold War Years," Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver.
112. Ruth Stout, It's a Woman's World (New York, 1960), 35-36.
113. Ibid., 39.
114. Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, 174.
115. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 102.
116. The Seventeen Cookbook, 76.
117. Ibid., 342.
118. For other texts which emphasized cooking in the pursuit of a mate, see Robert H. Loeb, She Cooks to Conquer (New York, 195 2) and Mimi Sheraton, The Seducer's Cookbook (New York, 1961).
119. For other texts which emphasized cooking in the pursuit of a mate, see Robert H. Loeb, She Cooks to Conquer (New York, 195 2) and Mimi Sheraton, The Seducer's Cookbook (New York, 1961).
120. Stein, How to Appeal to a Man's Appetites, 183.
121. Ibid., 183.
122. Another important culinary ability women were supposed to cultivate, in order to provide for their husbands, was feeding unexpected guests. Barber advisers her readers: "When the husband brings one of his old friends without notice, however, if you are an intelligent wife you will welcome him with outstretched arms even if you are mentally racking your brain as to how you can possibly change or supplement the meal already planned just to prove to him that marriage is a desirable state for all men." Barber, Silver jubilee, 26. Or as General Foods promised the woman who could provide for unexpected guests of her husband or her children "What better proof could a man have that his wife is a manger and a hostess to be proud of? Or, if it's the children who brought spur-of-the-moment guests to your door, what demonstration that Mom knows how to do things better than anybody!" General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 375.
123. Another important culinary ability women were supposed to cultivate, in order to provide for their husbands, was feeding unexpected guests. Barber advisers her readers: "When the husband brings one of his old friends without notice, however, if you are an intelligent wife you will welcome him with outstretched arms even if you are mentally racking your brain as to how you can possibly change or supplement the meal already planned just to prove to him that marriage is a desirable state for all men." Barber, Silver jubilee, 26. Or as General Foods promised the woman who could provide for unexpected guests of her husband or her children "What better proof could a man have that his wife is a manger and a hostess to be proud of? Or, if it's the children who brought spur-of-the-moment guests to your door, what demonstration that Mom knows how to do things better than anybody!" General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 375.
124. Endrijonas comments on how gelatin was associated with femininity and meat with masculinity: " . . . molded food was considered to be quite feminine because it looked neat and dainty. . . . Plain meat, however, was considered heavy, masculine fare" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 180). One male cookbook author reinforced this point as well: " . . . of all salads, those compounded with gelatins to form aspics are . . . the worst, and have no place in male cuisine." Malcolm La Prade, That Man in the Kitchen (New York, 1946), 160.
125. Endrijonas comments on how gelatin was associated with femininity and meat with masculinity: " . . . molded food was considered to be quite feminine because it looked neat and dainty. . . . Plain meat, however, was considered heavy, masculine fare" (Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 180). One male cookbook author reinforced this point as well: " . . . of all salads, those compounded with gelatins to form aspics are . . . the worst, and have no place in male cuisine." Malcolm La Prade, That Man in the Kitchen (New York, 1946), 160.
126. The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 271-272.
127. Ibid., 273.
128. Ibid., 364.
129. In fact, the editors themselves noted that George was the last of a dying breed: "He's a rarity these days - that man who can't cook a note" (General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 363).
130. See Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (United States, 1988).
131. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 186.
132. There were some cookbooks authored by men and intended for male readers. Endrijonas argues that such cookbooks clearly enforced strict gender norms and were, in fact, often misogynist in tone. See for example La Prade, That Man in the Kitchen, Robert H. Loeb, Jr., Wolf in Chef's Clothing (Chicago, 1950), Frank Shay, The Best Men are Cooks (New York, 1945), and Trader Vic, Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (Garden City, 1946).
133. There were some cookbooks authored by men and intended for male readers. Endrijonas argues that such cookbooks clearly enforced strict gender norms and were, in fact, often misogynist in tone. See for example La Prade, That Man in the Kitchen, Robert H. Loeb, Jr., Wolf in Chef's Clothing (Chicago, 1950), Frank Shay, The Best Men are Cooks (New York, 1945), and Trader Vic, Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (Garden City, 1946).
134. There were some cookbooks authored by men and intended for male readers. Endrijonas argues that such cookbooks clearly enforced strict gender norms and were, in fact, often misogynist in tone. See for example La Prade, That Man in the Kitchen, Robert H. Loeb, Jr., Wolf in Chef's Clothing (Chicago, 1950), Frank Shay, The Best Men are Cooks (New York, 1945), and Trader Vic, Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (Garden City, 1946).
135. There were some cookbooks authored by men and intended for male readers. Endrijonas argues that such cookbooks clearly enforced strict gender norms and were, in fact, often misogynist in tone. See for example La Prade, That Man in the Kitchen, Robert H. Loeb, Jr., Wolf in Chef's Clothing (Chicago, 1950), Frank Shay, The Best Men are Cooks (New York, 1945), and Trader Vic, Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (Garden City, 1946).
136. Robertshaw Measured Heat Cook Book (Youngwood, PA, 1951), 71.
137. Robertshaw Measured Heat Cook Book, 74.
138. For an interesting contemporary barbecue cookbook which combines nostalgia for and ironic commentary on the 1950s, see Gideon Bosker, Karen Brooks, and Leland and Crystal Payton, Patio-Doddj-O (San Francisco, 1996).
139. Stern and Stern, Square Meals, 283.
140. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 132.
141. Ibid.
142. Thomas A. Adler, "Making Pancakes on Sunday: The Male Cook in Family Tradition," Western Folklore 40 (1981): 46.
143. The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 295.
144. Picture Cook Book (New York, 1958), 8.
145. But this cookbook also included several pages of instructive photographs and step-by-step instructions on the correct way for men to carve a leg of lamb, a whole suckling pig, a ham, and a turkey because "carving in public before guests alarms some men." Picture Cook Book, 225. Apparently, some men needed assistance with what was supposed to be their natural affinity for meat-related activities. Endrijonas comments on these sort of instructions: "Men, sitting at the head of the table, were expected to carve the meat, usually the main course, as a showcase of their masculine authority and role within the family . . . However, women were to play a significant behind-the-scenes role in protecting the carver from potential public embarrassment" Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 144.
146. But this cookbook also included several pages of instructive photographs and step-by-step instructions on the correct way for men to carve a leg of lamb, a whole suckling pig, a ham, and a turkey because "carving in public before guests alarms some men." Picture Cook Book, 225. Apparently, some men needed assistance with what was supposed to be their natural affinity for meat-related activities. Endrijonas comments on these sort of instructions: "Men, sitting at the head of the table, were expected to carve the meat, usually the main course, as a showcase of their masculine authority and role within the family . . . However, women were to play a significant behind-the-scenes role in protecting the carver from potential public embarrassment" Endrijonas, "No Experience Required," 144.
147. Big Boy Barbecue Book (New York, 1956, 1957), 5.
148. Even texts which do not specifically state that men will be grilling the meat while women prepare everything else imply this division of labor with photographs and pictures of men standing by the grill and women holding the salad bowl, etc. See especially Better Homes and Gardens Barbecue Book (U.S.A., 1956).
149. Barber, The Silver Jubilee, 43.
150. The Seventeen Cookbook, 65.
151. Stein, How to Appeal to a Man's Appetites, 185.
152. Humble, "A Touch of Bohème," 15.
153. See Benita Eisler, Private Lives: Men and Women of the Fifties (New York, 1986); Marion Nowak, "'How to Be a Woman:' Theories of Female Education in the 1950s," Journal of Popular Culture IX (Summer 1975): 77-83; Marge Piercy, Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt; Caryl Rivers, Aphrodite at Mid-Century. Growing Up Catholic and Female in Post-War America (New York, 1973).
154. See Benita Eisler, Private Lives: Men and Women of the Fifties (New York, 1986); Marion Nowak, "'How to Be a Woman:' Theories of Female Education in the 1950s," Journal of Popular Culture IX (Summer 1975): 77-83; Marge Piercy, Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt; Caryl Rivers, Aphrodite at Mid-Century. Growing Up Catholic and Female in Post-War America (New York, 1973).
155. See Benita Eisler, Private Lives: Men and Women of the Fifties (New York, 1986); Marion Nowak, "'How to Be a Woman:' Theories of Female Education in the 1950s," Journal of Popular Culture IX (Summer 1975): 77-83; Marge Piercy, Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt; Caryl Rivers, Aphrodite at Mid-Century. Growing Up Catholic and Female in Post-War America (New York, 1973).
156. See Benita Eisler, Private Lives: Men and Women of the Fifties (New York, 1986); Marion Nowak, "'How to Be a Woman:' Theories of Female Education in the 1950s," Journal of Popular Culture IX (Summer 1975): 77-83; Marge Piercy, Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt; Caryl Rivers, Aphrodite at Mid-Century. Growing Up Catholic and Female in Post-War America (New York, 1973).
157. Shapiro, Perfection Salad, 217.
158. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 108. write under the assumption that housework can indeed be boring and limiting. This may seem an obvious point, but historians have sometimes implied otherwise. For example, Hine's flippant analysis on women and housework in the 1950s - that women "expressed extreme displeasure with housework, perhaps because the media were leading them to believe that would not have to do any" (Thomas Hine, Populuxe [New York, 1987], 31) - strikes me as wrong on several levels. Hine seems to assume that before the media told them otherwise, women happily cooked and cleaned, oblivious to possible dissatisfaction. He overestimates the control of the media in women's lives and underestimates the disruption in gender norms that was happening in the 1950s, and the subsequent dissatisfaction among white middle-class homemakers.
159. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 108. I write under the assumption that housework can indeed be boring and limiting. This may seem an obvious point, but historians have sometimes implied otherwise. For example, Hine's flippant analysis on women and housework in the 1950s - that women "expressed extreme displeasure with housework, perhaps because the media were leading them to believe that would not have to do any" (Thomas Hine, Populuxe [New York, 1987], 31) - strikes me as wrong on several levels. Hine seems to assume that before the media told them otherwise, women happily cooked and cleaned, oblivious to possible dissatisfaction. He overestimates the control of the media in women's lives and underestimates the disruption in gender norms that was happening in the 1950s, and the subsequent dissatisfaction among white middle-class homemakers.
160. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 109.
161. Levenstein, The Paradox of Plenty, 105.
162. Stout, It's a Woman's World, 66.
163. Ibid., 48.
164. Cooking With Casseroles (Menlo Park, 1958). See also Stout, It's a Woman's World, 65.
165. Cooking With Casseroles (Menlo Park, 1958). See also Stout, It's a Woman's World, 65.
166. Cussler and de Give, Twixt the Cup and the Lip, 167.
167. Theodora Zavin and Freda Stuart, The Working Wives' (Salaried or Otherwise) Cookbook (New York, 1963), 1.
168. Ibid., 3.
169. Several cookbooks make hopeful reference to men assisting in at least one aspect of food preparation: Shopping. One book claimed that " . . . a great many men have discovered that food marketing is fun, too" (General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 6). And, not surprisingly, the Silver Jubilee Super Market Cook Book promised that "Often the man of the household . . . comes to enjoy the weekly or semi-weekly visits to a modern super market" (Barber, The Silver Jubilee, vii). But even Helen Gurley Brown's 1962 bestseller Sex and the Single Girl, which is aimed specifically at young working women, warns her readers that they should refrain from cooking many meals for their beaux because "after you marry you're home a long time, cooking, cooking, cooking. Better go out while the going is good" Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (New York, 1962), 127-128.
170. Several cookbooks make hopeful reference to men assisting in at least one aspect of food preparation: Shopping. One book claimed that " . . . a great many men have discovered that food marketing is fun, too" (General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 6). And, not surprisingly, the Silver Jubilee Super Market Cook Book promised that "Often the man of the household . . . comes to enjoy the weekly or semi-weekly visits to a modern super market" (Barber, The Silver Jubilee, vii). But even Helen Gurley Brown's 1962 bestseller Sex and the Single Girl, which is aimed specifically at young working women, warns her readers that they should refrain from cooking many meals for their beaux because "after you marry you're home a long time, cooking, cooking, cooking. Better go out while the going is good" Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (New York, 1962), 127-128.
171. Several cookbooks make hopeful reference to men assisting in at least one aspect of food preparation: Shopping. One book claimed that " . . . a great many men have discovered that food marketing is fun, too" (General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 6). And, not surprisingly, the Silver Jubilee Super Market Cook Book promised that "Often the man of the household . . . comes to enjoy the weekly or semi-weekly visits to a modern super market" (Barber, The Silver Jubilee, vii). But even Helen Gurley Brown's 1962 bestseller Sex and the Single Girl, which is aimed specifically at young working women, warns her readers that they should refrain from cooking many meals for their beaux because "after you marry you're home a long time, cooking, cooking, cooking. Better go out while the going is good" Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl (New York, 1962), 127-128.
172. Walker, "Humor and Gender Roles," 101.
173. Ibid., 113.
174. Bracken also wrote domestic humor books that did not concentrate on cooking. See the revealingly titled I Try to Behave Myself (New York, 1963).
175. Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Book (New York, 1960), viii.
176. Ibid., 24.
177. Ibid., 30.
178. Patrick L. Coyle, Cook' Books: An Affectionate Guide to the Literature of Food (New York, 1985), 25. It was also popular enough to warrant follow-up publications: Peg Bracken, Peg Bracken's Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book (Greenwich, CT, 1966); Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Almanack (Greenwich, CT, 1976); and Peg Bracken, The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book (New York, 1986).
179. Patrick L. Coyle, Cook' Books: An Affectionate Guide to the Literature of Food (New York, 1985), 25. It was also popular enough to warrant follow-up publications: Peg Bracken, Peg Bracken's Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book (Greenwich, CT, 1966); Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Almanack (Greenwich, CT, 1976); and Peg Bracken, The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book (New York, 1986).
180. Patrick L. Coyle, Cook' Books: An Affectionate Guide to the Literature of Food (New York, 1985), 25. It was also popular enough to warrant follow-up publications: Peg Bracken, Peg Bracken's Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book (Greenwich, CT, 1966); Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Almanack (Greenwich, CT, 1976); and Peg Bracken, The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book (New York, 1986).
181. Patrick L. Coyle, Cook' Books: An Affectionate Guide to the Literature of Food (New York, 1985), 25. It was also popular enough to warrant follow-up publications: Peg Bracken, Peg Bracken's Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book (Greenwich, CT, 1966); Peg Bracken, The I Hate to Cook Almanack (Greenwich, CT, 1976); and Peg Bracken, The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book (New York, 1986).
182. Humble, " A Touch of Bohème," 16.
183. Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture (New York, 1994), 107.
184. Ibid., 112.
185. See Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Contest (New York, 1995).
186. Bhabha, The Location of Culture, 112.
187. Ibid., 93, 102.
188. Ibid., 122.
189. Scholars working in the field of the history of sexuality have made a similar argument about gay and lesbian identity in the 1950s. See Allan Bérubé, "Marching to a Different Drummer: Lesbian and Gay GIs in World War II," Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality, eds. Ann Snitow, et. al. (New York, 1983); John D'Emilio, "The Homosexual Menace: The Politics of Sexuality in Cold War," Passion and Power. Sexuality in History, eds. Kathy Peiss and Christina Simmons (Philadelphia, 1989); Donna Penn, "The Sexualized Woman: The Lesbian, Prostitute, and the Containment of Female Sexuality in Postwar America," in Meyerowitz, Not June Cleaver. Postwar anti-homosexual campaigns, while repressive and terrifying for gay and lesbian people, also solidified a "gay identity" and contributed to the feelings of persecution against which gay liberation movements would be organized.
190. Scholars working in the field of the history of sexuality have made a similar argument about gay and lesbian identity in the 1950s. See Allan Bérubé, "Marching to a Different Drummer: Lesbian and Gay GIs in World War II," Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality, eds. Ann Snitow, et. al. (New York, 1983); John D'Emilio, "The Homosexual Menace: The Politics of Sexuality in Cold War," Passion and Power. Sexuality in History, eds. Kathy Peiss and Christina Simmons (Philadelphia, 1989); Donna Penn, "The Sexualized Woman: The Lesbian, Prostitute, and the Containment of Female Sexuality in Postwar America," in Meyerowitz, Not June Cleaver. Postwar anti-homosexual campaigns, while repressive and terrifying for gay and lesbian people, also solidified a "gay identity" and contributed to the feelings of persecution against which gay liberation movements would be organized.
191. Scholars working in the field of the history of sexuality have made a similar argument about gay and lesbian identity in the 1950s. See Allan Bérubé, "Marching to a Different Drummer: Lesbian and Gay GIs in World War II," Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality, eds. Ann Snitow, et. al. (New York, 1983); John D'Emilio, "The Homosexual Menace: The Politics of Sexuality in Cold War," Passion and Power. Sexuality in History, eds. Kathy Peiss and Christina Simmons (Philadelphia, 1989); Donna Penn, "The Sexualized Woman: The Lesbian, Prostitute, and the Containment of Female Sexuality in Postwar America," in Meyerowitz, Not June Cleaver. Postwar anti-homosexual campaigns, while repressive and terrifying for gay and lesbian people, also solidified a "gay identity" and contributed to the feelings of persecution against which gay liberation movements would be organized.