Never Done : A History of American Housework

by Strasser, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780805066173
• ISBN10: 0805066179
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

Never Doneis the first history of American housework. Beginning with a description of household chores of the nineteenth century--cooking at fireplaces and on cast-iron stoves, laundry done with wash boilers and flatirons, endless water hauling and fire tending--Susan Strasser demonstrates how industrialization transformed the nature of women's work. Lightening some tasks and eliminating the need for others, new commercial processes inexorably altered women's daily lives and relationships--with each other and with the people they served. In this lively and authoritative book, Strasser weaves together the history of material advances and discussions of domestic service, "women's separate sphere" and the impact of advertising, home economics and women's entry into the workforce. Hailed as pathbreaking when originally published,Never Doneremains an eye-opening examination of daily life in the American past.

Author Biography

Susan Strasser is a professor of history at the University of Delaware

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xiii
Prologue: Never Done	3	(8)
Daily Bread	11	(21)
Out of the Frying Pan	32	(18)
The Home Fires	50	(17)
At the Flick of a Switch	67	(18)
Fetch a Pail of Water	85	(19)
Blue Monday	104	(21)
A Stitch in Time	125	(20)
The Boarder	145	(17)
Mistress and Maid	162	(18)
Redeeming Woman's Profession	180	(22)
The Business of Housekeeping	202	(22)
When the Bough Breaks	224	(18)
Selling Mrs. Consumer	242	(21)
Quick and Easy	263	(19)
You Deserve a Break	282	(18)
Life on the Market	300	(13)
Source Notes	313	(39)
Picture Credits	352	(1)
Index	353