
The Secret History of Home Economics
How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Rachel Perry
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 20th 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.
©2021 Danielle Dreilinger (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...



Excellent description of a valuable field.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Bring back home economics!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
i truely believe I have a skill set from the variety of classes tough through schools and clu s which helped me see the economic value to society when families thrive. We need these skills taught again and to hire home economics majors with their diversity of skills in leadership positions to move us forward into the interdependant, fast paced societies now and in the future.
wow, I had no idea!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Should be mandatory reading in usa
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Incredible Research
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator would probably be great for children’s books. Her manner of sing-song reading is odd with this kind of book and makes it very hard to follow. Halfway through the book I started thinking the main point of the author was to ridicule home economics and tear down home economists as terrible people, then I realized it was the narration that was making it sound snarky. I’ll make a point of avoiding books read by her in the future.
Good book, narration not so good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Interesting history
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Scratched the surface and was slanted
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Audio narrator was a tad too jolly for me.
This was more uneven and disorganized than most nonfiction--it was almost as if you could "press play" at any point in the book and you wouldn't have missed anything or been lost because so much of it seem disconnected from the rest. Sort of a string of vignettes and info and not a strong through line.
As well, some things were far more interesting than others.
Some really interesting parts, some really boring
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.