The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap Audiobook (Free)

The definitive edition from the classic, myth-shattering history of the American family Leave It to Beaver had not been a documentary, a man’s home has never been his castle, the ‘man breadwinner marriage’ may be the least traditional family ever sold, and rape and sexual assault were far higher in the 1970s than they are today. IN THE MANNER We Never Were, acclaimed historian Stephanie Coontz examines two centuries from the American family, sweeping away myths about the past that cloud current debates about home lifestyle. The 1950s do not present a workable model of how to conduct our personal lives today, Coontz argues, and neither will any other era from our ethnic past. This revised edition carries a new launch and epilogue, exploring the way the clash between developing gender equality and rising economic inequality is normally reshaping family members life, relationship, and male-female relationships in our modern period.

More relevant than ever, The Way We Never Were is usually a potent corrective to dangerous nostalgia for an American tradition that never really existed.