From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America

by Beth L. Bailey

Overview

From gentleman callers to big men on campus, from Coke dates to "parking," From Front Porch to Back Seat is the vivid history of dating in America. In chronicling a dramatic shift in patterns of courtship between the 1920s and the 1960s, Beth Bailey offers a provocative view of how we sought out mates-and of what accounted for our behavior. More than a quarter-century has passed since the dating system Bailey describes here lost its coherence and dominance. Yet the legacy of the system remains a strong part of our culture's attempt to define female and male roles alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421412474
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	08/01/1989
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Beth Bailey teaches American history and is the director of American Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. She is the author of The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Calling Cards and Money
Chapter 2. The Economy of Dating
Chapter 3. The Worth of a Date
Chapter 4. Sex Control
Chapter 5. The Etiquette of Masculinity and Femininity
Chapter 6. Scientific Truth and Love
Epilogue
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating study of an important part of our recent past.
--The Nation

As entertaining as it is informative. Bailey documents sources from Margaret Mead to advertising's hokey hype in her comprehensive analysis of the rituals of American amore, exploring the themes of 'control, competition, consumption, the sexual economy, etiquette and gender.'.
--Booklist

Whether or not we've come a long way since then, this engaging study of courtship shows that at least half the fun is in reading about getting there.
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

From the Publisher

As entertaining as it is informative. Bailey documents sources from Margaret Mead to advertising's hokey hype in her comprehensive analysis of the rituals of American amore, exploring the themes of 'control, competition, consumption, the sexual economy, etiquette and gender.'.

Booklist

A fascinating study of an important part of our recent past.

The Nation

Whether or not we've come a long way since then, this engaging study of courtship shows that at least half the fun is in reading about getting there.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"As entertaining as it is informative. Bailey documents sources from Margaret Mead to advertising's hokey hype in her comprehensive analysis of the rituals of American amore, exploring the themes of 'control, competition, consumption, the sexual economy, etiquette and gender.'."

Booklist

Whether or not we've come a long way since then, this engaging study of courtship shows that at least half the fun is in reading about getting there.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch.