The definitive edition of the classic, myth-shattering history of the American family Leave It to Beaver was not a documentary, a man’s home has never been his castle, the ‘male breadwinner relationship’ may be the least traditional family ever sold, and rape and sexual assault were far higher in the 1970s than these are today. IN THE MANNER We Never Were, acclaimed historian Stephanie Coontz examines two hundreds of years of the American family, sweeping away myths about the past that cloud current debates about local life. The 1950s usually do not present a workable model of how to carry out our personal lives today, Coontz argues, and neither will any other period from our ethnic past. This modified edition includes a fresh introduction and epilogue, exploring how the clash between developing gender equality and rising economic inequality is definitely reshaping family members life, relationship, and male-female human relationships in our contemporary period.

More relevant than ever, JUST HOW We Never Were is normally a potent corrective to harmful nostalgia for an American tradition that hardly ever really existed.