The Social Origins of Private Life: A History of American Families, 1600-1900

by Stephanie Coontz

Book Overview

A highly original account of the evolution of the family unit Current debates about the future of the family are often based on serious misconceptions about its past. Arguing that there is no biologically mandated or universally functional family form, Stephanie Coontz traces the complexity and variety of family arrangements in American history, from Native American kin groups to the emergence of the dominant middle-class family ideal in the 1890s...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0860919072
• ISBN13: 9780860919070
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: Verso
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.0"