Engendering Culture
Manhood and Womanhood in New Deal Public Art and Theater
Published on 17. September 1991
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-87474-721-8 (ISBN)
Description
Using the iconography of New Deal murals and plays to interpret the cultural history of the 1930s, Engendering Culture demonstrates that the visual and dramatic images of each form contain an underlying vocabulary of gender: a stock of commonly used poses, subjects, settings, and dramatic roles that encode recognizable characteristics of manhood and womanhood.
Reviews / Votes
I know of no other study that gives us a greater sense of grassroots response to the projects of the New Deal... This is an exceedingly well-written, impressively researched, persuasively argued book with many original and stimulating things to say. -- Lawrence L. Levine, Margaret Byrne Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley Deeply researched and fascinating to read, Engendering Culture proves Barbara Melosh to be one of the most talented and imaginative feminist historians at work today. -- Nancy F. Cott, Department of History, Yale UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Washington
United States
Publishing group
Smithsonian Books
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 278 mm
Width: 217 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
907 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-87474-721-8 (9780874747218)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Barbara Melosh is a professor of English and Study of the Americas at George Mason University. She is the author of "The Physician's Hand: Work, Culture, and Conflict in American Nursing.
Content
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. It Can't Happen Here: Failed Men and Spirited Women Chapter 3 2. The Domesticated Frontier: The Comradely Ideal as Pioneer Democracy Chapter 4 3. The Farm Family: The Comradely Ideal as Idyll and Expose Chapter 5 4. Manly Work Chapter 6 5. Masculine Expertise: Science and Technology Chapter 7 6. "The Women Shall Save Us": Antiwar Art and Drama Chapter 8 7. Youth: Emergent Manhood and Womanhood Chapter 9 8. Sex and Shopping: Critiques of Leisure and Consumption Chapter 10 9. Women, Art, and Ideology Chapter 11 10. Conclusion Chapter 12 Appendix: Inventory of Section Murals and Sculptures