The Way We Never Were
American Families and the Nostalgia Trap

Coontz presents the historical facts of American family life and political and economic movements in hopes of demonstrating that the families of the past were not so idyllic and the families of the present are not so dysfunctional as they are often portrayed. She argues that historical mythologizing......more

This is another title which I picked in “honor” of this presidential election year – a time when thoughts turn to the possibility and desirability of social change, and we ponder whether we should or could set things back to The Way They Were, back in some previous era (when, to mangle Garrison Keil......more

My mother is a professor of American history, and many of my earliest memories pertaining to her professional life involve her unabashed enthusiasm for this book. Now that I've finally taken the time to read it, I understand why it made such a strong impression. Given that Coontz's book is now more......more

Coontz is required reading in all American history courses, and rightly so. She blows up LEAVE IT TO BEAVER! American women were never stay-at-home-moms, most Black children are not abandoned by one or more parent, the American White middle class family was built by the New Deal and the G.I. Bill of......more

Coontz presents a much-needed argument on the futility of conservative nostalgia for "the good old days," chock-full of statistics. Anyone advocating a patriarchal family model taken from back in time when men, women, and children knew their place needs to study the history of the American family fi......more