Synopses & Reviews
Americans living in the mid 20th century saw momentous change. A decade of severe economic depression in the 1930s was followed by the largest scale war the world had ever seen. In
Pushing the Limits, Elaine Tyler May shows how women's lives in the United States reflected and helped to shape these world changes. During the war, women joined the military effort through the WACS (Women's Army Corps) and the WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services). Production demands drew women into manufacturing jobs and broadcast the famous image of Rosie the Riveter. After the war, women were encouraged to give up their jobs to the returning veterans and resume their tasks as wives and mothers.
We discover that women of all backgrounds pushed the limits of their circumstances, whether they were college educated homemakers working to elevate the job of housewife to a respected career, working class women struggling to preserve the gains of wartime, or African American women leading the struggle for civil rights. Popular culture of the 1950s--TV shows such as "Ozzie and Harriet," "Leave It To Beaver," and "Father Knows Best"--promoted the subservient wife in a traditional nuclear family and kept women as homemakers. At the same time, however, women such as Rosa Parks became household names as they challenged racial and gender discrimination. These women, May reveals, paved the way for the political, sexual, and social movements of the 1960s and the feminist gains that would follow.
Review
"Oxford is to be congratulated for so quickly and well translating the newest scholarship into readable and attractive volumes for students."--Patricial M. King, Radcliffe College
"If Pushing the Limits is what new books for students are like, I'm going back to school! Elaine Tyler May has written a lively and engrossing history of American women's lives in the era of World War II and the Cold War. She respects her young readers enough to offer them serious analyses of complex topics like growth of consumer culture and changes in attitudes toward sexuality. We meet women who work in factories and organize union; women--white and black--who go to college and develop professional careers; women who devote themselves to domesticity. More than 100 remarkable photographs bring the words to life. If you thought the 1950s were dull, this book will convince you that they were a fascinating decade, full of tension, argument, and important choices for both men and women."--Linda K. Kerber, Professor of History, University of Iowa, and author of Women of the Republic
"Especially commendable is the inclusion of women from a variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds."--VOYA
"Limits brings women into the years of World War II; Rosie the Riveter reigned supreme, only to be pushed back home when the war was over. During the 1950s and 1960s, mom and apple pie were upbeat images, but May does a fine job of chronicling the dark side of this phenomenon, including the mental and emotional price paid by those who didn't follow the rules."--Booklist
"Lively, fascinating, lucid, accessible, balanced--a fine resource that belongs in every library."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "This refreshingly different look at history, social trends, and pop culture lends itself beautifully to classroom discussionn, and will also be useful for reports."--School Library Journal (starred review)
Review
"If Pushing the Limits is what new books for students are like, I'm going back to school!"--Linda K. Kerber, Professor of History, University of Iowa, and author of Women of the Republic
"During the 1950s and 1960s, mom and apple pie were upbeat images, but May does a fine job of chronicling the dark side of this phenomenon, including the mental and emotional price paid by those who didn't follow the rules."--Booklist
"Lively, fascinating, lucid, accessible, balanced--a fine resource that belongs in every library."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "This refreshingly different look at history, social trends, and pop culture lends itself beautifully to classroom discussionn, and will also be useful for reports."--School Library Journal (starred review)
About the Author
Elaine Tyler May is professor of American studies and history at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of
Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era,
Great Expectations: Marriage and Divorce in Post Victorian America, and
Barren in the Promised Land: Childless Americans and the Pursuit of Happiness.