Women's Magazines 1940-1960: Gender Roles and the Popular Press (The Bedford Series in History) by Nancy A. Walker


Women's Magazines 1940-1960: Gender Roles and the Popular Press (The Bedford Series in History)
Title : Women's Magazines 1940-1960: Gender Roles and the Popular Press (The Bedford Series in History)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0312163827
ISBN-10 : 9780312163822
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 274
Publication : First published March 15, 1998

This is the first volume to use women's magazines as a window into the experience of women living in the 1940s and 1950s. The book chronicles the debate over women's domestic and public roles during two decades of enormous social change in America. Organized into 7 topics, the 60 compelling articles and 10 advertisements, taken primarily from Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Woman's Home Companion, Better Homes and Gardens, Harper's Bazaar and McCall's, provide a fun and fascinating look at the place of women in American society during the 1940s and 1950s and what their goals were (or were perceived to be). The selections effectively illustrate how feminine culture has (and has not) changed in the second half of the twentieth century. A general introduction places women's magazines in the context of World War II and postwar America, and chapter introductions provide historical background on the themes.


Women's Magazines 1940-1960: Gender Roles and the Popular Press (The Bedford Series in History) Reviews


  • Sophie

    A collection of articles from American women's magazines from the 40s to the 60s, with introductions to each section. A good insight into popular culture of the period. Some of the articles are suprisingly modern in tone. My only complaint is that they didn't include the pictures that accompanied many of the articles.

  • Melodie

    Fascinating!

  • Abby Morris

    bro women are crazy

  • Julie

    I read this for a genders in literature class, it was fascinating to see what kind of arcticles were published in magazines back then. I really enjoyed it.