Women's Magazines, 1940-1960 : Gender Roles and the Popular Press

During and following World War II, women's magazines served as advice manuals, fashion guides, marriage counselors, and catalogs. This thematically arranged collection of selections fromLadies' Home Journal,Woman's Home Companion,McCall's,Redbook, and others provides a resource for understanding how the popular press perceived and attempted to influence women's values, goals, and behavior in the postwar era.

Nancy A. Walker is a professor of English and former director of the women's studies program at Vanderbilt University. Previously she has taught at Stephens College, where she served as chair of the department of languages and literature from 1984 to 1989. A specialist in American women writers, she has published A Very Serious Thing: Women's Humor and American Culture (1988): Feminist ALternatives: Irony and Fantasy in the Contemporary Novel by Women (1990); and The Disobedient Writer: Women and Narrative Tradition (1995). She is editor of Redressing the Balance: American Women's Humor from the Colonies to the 1980s (1988); Communication: The Autobiography of Rachel Maddux (1991); and Kate Chopin's The Awakening: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism (Bedford Books, 1993).

 Foreword 
 Preface
 List of Illustrations
    
PART I. INTRODUCTION: WOMEN'S MAGAZINES AND WOMEN'S ROLES
    
    The Role of the Women's Magazines
    Women and Society
    
PART II. THE DOCUMENTS
  1. World War II
    1. "What Do the Women of America Think about War?" Ladies' Home Journal, February 1940
    2. Pearl S. Buck, "Women and War," Ladies' Home Journal, May 1940
    3. Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, "Women Work for Their Country," Woman's Home Companion, December 1941
    4. "How a Woman Should Wear a Uniform," Good Housekeeping, August 1942
    5. " Meet the Berckmans: The Story of a Mother Working on Two Fronts," Ladies' Home Journal, October 1942
    6. J. Edgar Hoover, "Mothers. . .Our Only Hope," Woman's Home Companion, January 1944
    7. James Madison Wood, "Should We Draft Mothers?" Woman's Home Companion, January 1944
    8. Alfred Tooms, "War Babies," Woman's Home Companion, April 1944
    9. "When Your Soldier Comes Home," Ladies' Home Journal October 1945
    
  2. Women and the Workplace
    10. Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Women in Politics," Good Housekeeping, April 1940
    11. "You Can't Have a Career and Be a Good Wife," Ladies' Home Journal, January 1944
    12. Alice Hamilton, M.D., "Why I Am against the Equal Rights Amendment," Ladies' Home Journal, July 1945
    13. Jennifer Colton, "Why I Quit Working," Good Housekeeping, September 1951
    14. "Women in Flight," Mademoiselle, December 1952
    15. "The Married Woman Goes Back to Work," Woman's Home Companion, October 1956
    
  3. Marriage and Motherhood
    16. Helen Welshimer, "My Husband Says --," Good Housekeeping, February 1940
    17. Wainwright Evans, "Are Good Mothers 'Unfaithful' Wives?" Better Homes and Gardens July 1941
    18. "What's on Your Mind," Redbook, 1945
    19. Amram Scheinfeld, "Are American Moms a Menace?" Ladies' Home Journal, November 1945
    20. "Are You Too Educated to Be a Mother?" Ladies' Home Journal, June 1946
    21. "What Makes Wives Dissatisfied?" Woman's Home Companion, April 1947
    22. Clifford R. Adams, "Making Marriage Work," Ladies' Home Journal, January 1948
    23. Mrs. Dale Carnegie, "How to Help Your Husband Get Ahead," Coronet, January 1954
    24. Paul H. Landis, "What Is 'Normal' Married Love?" Coronet, October 1957
    25. Beryl Pfizer, "Six Rude Answers to One Rude Question," McCall's, July 1960
    
  4. Homemaking
    26. Grace L. Pennock, "Starting from Scratch," Ladies' Home Journal, April 1940
    27. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, "Housekeeping Need Not Be Dull," Ladies' Home Journal, October 1941
    28. Dr. Carl P. Sherwin, "The Questions-Box," Good Housekeeping, January 1944
    29. M. F. K. Fisher, "The Lively Art of Eating," Harper's Bazaar, November 1944
    30. Dorothy Thompson, "Occupation-Housewife," Ladies' Home Journal, March 1949
    31. Helen W. Kendall, "Electric Mixers -- Strong Right Arms," Good Housekeeping, January 1950
    32. Jane Whitbread and Vivian Cadden, "Granny's on the Pan," Redbook, November 1951
    33. Robert J. Knowlton, "Your Wife Has an Easy Racket," American Magazine, November 1951
    34. Paul Jones, "Is There a Plot against Women?" Ladies' Home Journal, July 1954
    35. Selma Robinson, "103 Women Sound Off!" McCall's, February 1959
    36. Joyce Lubold, "My Love Affair with the Washing-Machine Man," McCalls, June 1960
    
  5. Fashion and Beauty
    37. Ruth Anna Read, "Those Simple Little Exercises," Good Housekeeping, July 1940
    38. "The Mood Has Changed," Harper's Bazaar, September 1944
    40. Sally Berry, "Do You Make These Beauty Blunders?" Good Housekeeping, April 1944
    41. Elizabeth Pope, "What Is a 'Well-Dressed Woman'?" Redbook, July 1945
    42. Janet Engel, "The Fattest Girl in the Class," Seventeen, January 1948
    43. "The Lass with the Delicate Air," Mademoiselle July 1949
    44. "At My Age," Harper's Bazaar December 1949
    45. "The Line Forms Here," Mademoiselle, July 1952
    46. Ernice Peck, "Accessory after the Body," Madamoiselle October 1952
    47. "Making Less of Yourself," Harper's Bazaar, September 1955
    48. Elinor Goulding Smith, "How to Look Halfway Decent," McCall's, February 1959
    
  6. Critiques of the Women's Magazines, 1946-1960
    49. Elizabeth Bancroft Schlesinger, "The Women's Magazines," New Republic, March 1946
    50. Ann Griffith, "The Magazines Women Read," American Mercury March 1949
    51. Marghanita Laski, "What Every Woman Knows by Now," Atlantic Monthly, May 1950
    52. Mary McCarthy, "Up the Ladder from Charm to Vogue," Reporter, July 1950
    53. Katherine M. Byrne, "Happy Little Wives and Mothers," America, January 1956
    54. Joan Didion, "Marriage a la Mode," National Review, August 1960
    
APPENDICES
    
  Questions for Consideration
  Suggestions for Further Reading
    
  Index