Book Description
Over the last forty years, the number of American households with a stay-at-home parent has dwindled as women have increasingly joined the paid workforce and more women raise children alone. Many policy makers feared these changes would come at the expense of time mothers spend with their children. In Changing Rhythms of American Family Life, sociologists Suzanne Bianchi, John Robinson, and Melissa Milkie analyze the way families spend their time and uncover surprising new findings about how Americans are balancing the demands of work and family.
Using time diary data from surveys of American parents over the last four decades, Changing Rhythms of American Family Life finds that--despite increased workloads outside of the home--mothers today spend at least as much time interacting with their children as mothers did decades ago--and perhaps even more. Unexpectedly, the authors find the increase in mothers' time at work has not resulted in an overall decline in sleep or leisure time. Rather, mothers have made time for both work and family by sacrificing time spent doing housework and by increased "multitasking." Changing Rhythms of American Family Life finds that the total workload (in and out of the home) for employed parents is high for both sexes, with employed mothers averaging five hours more per week than employed fathers and almost nineteen hours more per week than homemaker mothers. Comparing average workloads of fathers with all mothers--both those in the paid workforce and homemakers--the authors find that there is gender equality in total workloads, as there has been since 1965. Overall, it appears that Americans have adapted to changing circumstances to ensure that they preserve their family time and provide adequately for their children.
Changing Rhythms of American Family Life explodes many of the popular misconceptions about how Americans balance work and family. Though the iconic image of the American mother has changed from a docile homemaker to a frenzied, sleepless working mom, this important new volume demonstrates that the time mothers spend with their families has remained steady throughout the decades.
Book Description
Theres a new type of teenage girl growing up in America today, and she is having a profound and beneficial influence on society. Thats the conclusion of Dr. Dan Kindlon, the widely respected. Part of the first generation that is reaping the full benefits of the womens movement, todays American girl is maturing with a new sense of possibility and psychological emancipation. Dr. Kindlon provides us with an in-depth portrait of the alpha girla born leader who is ready to explode into adulthood and make her mark on the world and, by her example, serve as an inspiration for women everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Would Have Liked More on Alpha Girls, (or Even Girls).......2007-03-23
While there is a lot of info here, the title is misleading. Maybe half the text is about alpha girls, the rest about the increasing status of women in general. There is a whole chapter on the "descent" of boys/men. There is a recitation of common wisdom that a woman will be president and that women professionals like/need flex time. There is also lot of peripheral text (for a book on alpha girls) for instance, about women in Norway, anecdotes about the status of women in the 50's, random data and interviews about the sexuality of college females, etc.
While the many charts are documented by source, I had the feeling that the author took the data at hand, rather than the best data to illustrate his points. The bar charts with alpha girls data plotted with all girls and all boys were very illustrative, but there were a lot of charts that seemed to be of general interest or just filler. Some charts extrapolated 45 years showing female predominance in various endeavors without comment. It is spurious to assume today's data, which represents an abrupt break from history, will meaningfully project so far outward. The charts are provided without comment on the potential for a plateauing of the trend.
The author cites Simone de Beauvoir's observation that once women were more valued by their families and their culture, a new psychology would follow. This topic of the "new girl" is worthy of treatment, which this book only promises to do.
Captures Truth.......2007-01-08
As the father of an "alpha girl" (now a freshman in college), I strongly believe that the author has captured the essense of the dramatic changes that have occurred in the lives of girls. I came of age during the 1970's, in the era of women's liberation. I did my best to raise a strong and independent daughter.
What has amazed me, however, is the degree to which my daughter takes for granted her strength and independence. Some part of me wants to say, "But don't you get it? This is supposed to be hard. You're supposed to have to wrestle with the demons of sexism and fight for it." This book shows why I'm the one who "doesn't get it". Powerful changes going on under the surface have radically altered the landscape for smart, capable young women.
Girls today, such as my daughter, simply know that they are every bit as capable as boys. It is not a false bravado. My daughter has complained in her Karate class about the inequity of genetics that gives boys greater upper body strength. Those differences didn't stop her, however, when a boy at a dance club grabbed her from behind. Without hesitation, she put him on the ground in an arm lock.
These are the girls who grew up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Zena Princess Warrior, and even the Pink Power Ranger. They simply expect to succeed. It's part of their internal mythology, in the same way that I grew up with John Wayne as an icon.
This book gives the underpinnings for how this transformation occurred. Just as interesting, the book also offers some glimpses ahead of a very different world. Current trends in rates of women versus men graduating college and getting higher degrees / professional degrees show a nation where in the top ranks, women will be earning more than men. That shift in power is hard for a middle-aged guy like me to comprehend. Alpha girls don't have any trouble with the idea; they simply expect to make a lot of money, and wield a lot of influence.
What the book does not address so well, as other reviewers have pointed out, is what happens with the other 99%+ of girls out there who do not meet the author's definition of "alpha girls". The author makes clear the limitations of his approach and methodology, but this topic begs for a larger, more inclusive look at the lives of girls.
Psychology of girls.......2006-11-29
Reviewed by AJ Cooper for Reader Views (11/06)
"Alpha Girls" to me is a study of how girls and their ambitions and goals have changed over the years. It is a book that I feel is mainly for someone in the psychology field. The study and the information come from schools over a wide range of areas in the United States and Canada. The views of girls that are high achievers today have changed dramatically even from 10 years ago. This book provides some very scientific statistics and information that I would not necessarily need or want to know. Some parts were very interesting and I can clearly see how girls' thinking has changed over the years.
At first when I started reading the book the information really made me stop and think about how school was for me when I was growing up. I remember being encouraged to go into nursing. I was not really that interested in nursing so I dropped out and joined the military. My parents did not feel that was a good role or job for me to be involved in. They tried everything possible to persuade me to stay in school.
The most interesting part of "Alpha Girls" for me was the girls' lack of anger about adults in society making traditional statements about women and girls and discounting the fact that women/girls can do anything they set their minds to. It seems the girls really did not care about women's lib and that whole movement and were more interested in their achievements and their goals in life.
I did start to lose interest in "Alpha Girls" and found myself skipping back and forth through the book. It was a lot more technical writing than I had anticipated. It was all very understandable and formatted well, but just not the type of technical book I am interested in. I can see some of my ideas and feelings in the girls that were interviewed from when I was in school. I did not enjoy typical stereotypes of women growing up and always worked to be able to compete with my brothers. I was and still am very competitive.
According to Kindlon, Alpha Girls are amazing........2006-09-25
Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She Is Changing the World, is author Dan Kindlon's analysis of the present and future life of "alpha" girls: those girls who are excellent academic achievers, leaders in high school, shine in sports, and have high levels of self-esteem, motivation, and confidence.
Kindlon argues that, whatever the decade old AAUW study on girls reported, the new alpha girl is either immune to bias in the classroom or situated in the "new age" of education that provides opportunity and removes barriers based on sex. He reaches this conclusion after interviewing a bit over 100 "alpha girls," kids recommended to him by teachers, principals, and other students. He compares these girls to students who have completed a questionnaire in about 18 high schools concentrated in the east (6 public and the rest private).
I appreciate the analysis that Kindlon has undertaken, but I also recognize its methodological weaknesses. There is a difference in having interviews with top-performing girls (and they are going to admit that their life isn't perfect?) and looking at their school, home, and work records, and interviewing a random sample of students and looking at the characteristics of those who are performing at the top of some pre-developed scale. Also, the vast majority of kids in Kindlon's study were from private schools. This is not a random sample of Americana, and brings in biases of income, race, and social status. Thus, he states that there are these amazingly confident and motivated girls in high school as his conclusion. However, in 1999 there were 16 million kids in high school in the US. Certainly, there should have been no problem in finding about 100 of the 8 million girls to be fantastic students. One hundred out of 8 million is less than .002%. If I would look at the top .002% of girl scholars in 1950, or 1920, or 1890, I suspect these would always have been amazing girls. So one of the big questions is, what can studying the top .002% of students tell us about the experience of girls in high school today? Furthermore, how does a better understanding of this group affect the results of the AAUW study done in the 1990s? Finally, the kicker will be a longitudinal study where we can see how these girls perform in society and at home compared to a control group of girls.
This book, and the study design, would not make it into the peer-reviewed literature. However, I did enjoy, and appreciate, the lengthy discussion and review of the issues by Kindlon. I would really like this to be a book read by high school girls to get their feedback and reaction.
I wish he would have spent more time with girls in public schools. I also hope he utilized an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to gain permission to work with these minors. I didn't notice any reference to this critical oversight to make sure confidentialities and parental permissions were kept and obtained.
From the mother of an 'alpha girl' - Kindlon captures it perfectly.......2006-09-22
As the mother of a 14-year-old field-hockey-stick-wielding girl with far more assertiveness than I ever had, I just ate this book up. And, boy, did it make me think about the ways in which I have "projected my own psychology" onto her -- and have been repeatedly startled to realize that her level of confidence is utterly unlike mine at that age. Reading 'Alpha Girls' was eye-opening, thought-provoking, and very, very helpful.
Book Description
In this landmark book, sociologist Viviana Zelizer traces the emergence of the modern child, at once economically "useless" and emotionally "priceless," from the late 1800s to the 1930s. Having established laws removing many children from the marketplace, turn-of-the-century America was discovering new, sentimental criteria to determine a child's monetary worth. The heightened emotional status of children resulted, for example, in the legal justification of children's life insurance policies and in large damages awarded by courts to their parents in the event of death. A vivid account of changing attitudes toward children, this book dramatically illustrates the limits of economic views of life that ignore the pervasive role of social, cultural, emotional, and moral factors in our marketplace world.
Customer Reviews:
A classic.......2006-05-07
When one begins reading about the history of childhood, one book is almost universally cited: this one. And with good reason -- it's a clear compelling study of a surprising change in the way children were viewed. Each chapter picks a particular topic (child labor, child burial, wrongful death) and amasses copious evidence to show a massive change in the way children were viewed, from purely economic actors (who aided with their parent's work) to priceless bundles of joy.
The evidence is artfully collected but hearing the same story again and again gets to be a little old. I wish that instead of simply amassing more evidence, Zelizer stepped back a little and investigated the causes of such a massive change or at least provided us with more details about her theory.
The shifting value of children.......2000-05-15
In this thoroughly researched and well-written book, Zelizer tackles a formidable and important subject: the shifting economic and social value of American children. Her point of entry into the discussion of the history of childhood rests on a clearly defined thesis: as the economic value of children decreased in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, children's emotional and spiritual value gained ascendancy. Zelizar examines the vital roles of child labor and child work -- two very different, but related, concepts -- in the formation of the modern American child, neatly and compellingly charting the relationship between the nineteenth-century forebear and its twentieth-century counterpart. For example, the early twentieth-century child factory laborer represents the concept of child labor -- children who help to support their family by turning over their wages and working extra hours. The mid-to-late-twentieth-century child indulges in "child work" such as baby sitting or delivering papers, often earning an allowance he or she can keep since the object is to teach a child the values of money and responsibility. Zelizer offers explanations and rationales for such phenomena as the early twentieth-century rise of playgrounds in urban areas, the struggle of child actors to keep their hard-earned fortunes, and the history of the rise of black-market babies in the twentieth century. Zelizer's study is compelling for any reader and a must-read for anyone interested in children's history or children's literature.
Book Description
Michael Rosenfeld offers a new theory of family dynamics to account for the interesting and startling changes in marriage and family composition in the United States in recent years. His argument revolves around the independent life stage that emerged around 1960. This stage is experienced by young adults after they leave their parents' homes but before they settle down to start their own families. During this time, young men and women go away to college, travel abroad, begin careers, and enjoy social independence. This independent life stage has reduced parental control over the dating practices and mate selection of their children and has resulted in a sharp rise in interracial and same-sex unions--unions that were more easily averted by previous generations of parents.
Complementing analysis of newly available census data from the entire twentieth century with in-depth interviews that explore the histories of families and couples, Rosenfeld proposes a conceptual model to explain many social changes that may seem unrelated but that flow from the same underlying logic. He shows, for example, that the more a relationship is transgressive of conventional morality, the more likely it is for the individuals to live away from their family and area of origin.
Customer Reviews:
Rosenfeld hits a home run.......2007-05-15
This is an academic book that is also relevant and accessible to the lay community. Professor Rosenfeld writes in a confident, clear, and engaging manner that makes this book truly a pleasure to read. His study is not only fascinating but timely. I highly recommend this book!
State of the Union.......2007-03-18
This is a terrific book about changing attitudes toward marriage in America. I'm very interested in the topic (mostly because my girlfriend thinks I should be), but I was afraid the writing would be too technical for me. In fact it's an easy read, well-written and to the point. It really opened up the subject for me.
Rosenfeld covers non-traditional unions in America from a variety of angles (historical, cultural, statistical, and legal, among others) and includes compelling narratives from the lives of gay and interracial couples. I came away with a new appreciation for the subtleties of the issues involved, and was convinced by his analysis of the factors influencing progressive change in this country.
Marriage is one of those topics for which "expert" opinions are offered freely. Everyone from my green-grocer to my aunt Gertrude seems to be ready to tell me who should and shouldn't be married. I'd like to buy a dozen copies of this book and hand it out to all of them. If you're at all interested in the institution of marriage, this book is a must-read.
Well written, profound and relevant.......2007-03-16
Rosenfeld's theory of how routine, under-recognized and therefore underappreciated changes in the life course are at the root of major contemporary social controversies is social science at its best.
He explains that in earlier eras adolescents made rapid transitions from living under parental authority to the establishment of long-term marital bonds. Courting and coupling behavior was also more readily subject to the monitoring and sanctioning of relations established during childhood.
Institutional and technological change has facilitated the emergence of an "Independent life-stage" where such social controls are weakened or removed and opportunities for non-traditional coupling has increased. He goes on to detail how this has had profound implications for the composition of the American family (and as is the case, American politics).
His argument is not grounded on tenuous assumptions but on historical trends that he clearly demonstrates using 150 years of newly available U.S. census data. However, his work is far from an impersonal account where statistics alienate the reader from the social implications of his findings.
He also draws upon survey responses (from the General Social Survey) as well as original interview data from non-traditional couples to make the totality of his parsimonious argument readily comprehensible to the reader. His writing style and his ideas are rich and rewarding, without being dense and difficult to grasp.
This is a rare work of lofty scholarship that can enlighten both academic and non-academic readers.
Provocative and Accessible.......2007-03-07
This work addresses fundamental changes along a core dimension of social life, documenting and theorizing the rise of nontraditional - i.e., interracial and same-sex - unions in the U.S. in the post-1960s era. In engaging and readable prose, the author presents data (mostly from the U.S. Census) showing striking expansions in the prevalence of nontraditional unions, which he postulates arise concomitant with a new "independent life stage," during which time young people live apart from their families and forge unions outside community control. The empirical and theoretical contributions of the book are both substantial.
To my knowledge, no other scholarly work treats the expansions of interracial and same-sex unions as inter-related indicators of a shifting American life course. While there are normative/psychological treatments and social-movement accounts of the central phenomena, the demographic perspective taken here is entirely original. The author's presentation of the trends is outstanding, and his interpretation thereof is important and original. The scholarship is uniformly superior.
Book Description
A one of a kind text that examines family life in the United States from colonial times to modern day, and provides a distinctly feminist perspective focusing on gender inequality during this period. Each chapter contains a three-part format that cover the key issues related to the topic, theoretical debates that exist within the field, and human agency and social movements that include the actions people have taken to cope with, resist, or change specific family problems. How to study families in the twenty-first century; a history of U.S. families with a focus on Euro-American and African-American families; Families and the economic system; the organization of race, class and gender; work and the family, love and sex; marriage; divorce; battering and marital rape are all covered. For anyone interested in studying family issues and concerns. Family Therapists, Counselors, Social Workers and others who search for better understanding of the complexities of family dynamics.
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Changing Gender Roles: Brazilian Immigrant Families in the U.S. (New Americans (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.)) (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)
Sylvia Duarte Dantas Debiaggi
Manufacturer: LFB Scholarly Publishing
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DeBiaggi focuses on recent Brazilian immigrant families. There are over 600,000 Brazilians in the U.S., the majority in metropolitan New York (230,000) and Boston (150.000). Drawing on the methods of cross-cultural and gender studies, DeBiaggi interviewed 50 Brazilian families, husbands and wives, in Boston. Using quantitative and qualitative data, she found that immigration to the U.S. affected both the husband's and the wife's gender roles as well as their relationship. Coming from a more patriarchal society, Brazilian families face changes in their attitudes towards women and in their division of household labor and childcare. In turn, these changes affect how satisfied husbands and wives are in their marriage. Finally, the study indicates the importance of women's rights to the development of fairer and more egalitarian relationships.
Book Description
Reconciling explosive growth with often majestic landscape defines New Geographies of the American West. Geographer William Travis examines contemporary land use changes and development patterns from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and assesses the ecological and social outcomes of Western development.
Unlike previous "boom"periods dependent on oil or gold, the modern population explosion in the West reflects a sustained passion for living in this specific landscape. But the encroaching exurbs, ranchettes, and ski resorts are slicing away at the very environment that Westerners cherish.
Efforts to manage growth in the West are usually stymied at the state and local levels. Is it possible to improve development patterns within the West's traditional anti-planning, pro-growth milieu, or is a new model needed? Can the region develop sustainably, protecting and managing its defining wildness, while benefiting from it, too? Travis takes up the challenge , suggesting that functional and attractive settlement can be embedded in preserved lands, working landscapes, and healthy ecologies.
Customer Reviews:
The Ghost of Tom McCall.......2007-06-13
In 1971 Oregon's likable curmudgeon Governor, Tom McCall, gained national notoriety when he urged people to vist Oregon -- but to move on with all deliberate speed -- or go back to California.
Prof. William R. Travis is a kinder, gentler McCall. But the Oregon politician and the Colorado geographer have the same basic message. The secret of the West's success in drawing people to its mountains, deserts, rivers, and estuaries is not so much resources as "amenities." But will the West's seductive geography prove its undoing? McCall and Travis, a generation apart, share the fear the West will choke on its demographic success.
The short version of Professor Travis' argument is that he sees sprawl everywhere, and the cure for it is open natural land.
Travis sees the West as a complex of core cities, their suburban sprawl, then the menacing "exurbs," a scattering of resorts, and an enormous "gentrified" range. Travis' is fond of cities, though he shares little of the loathing for the suburbs so common among urban planners. Most of his dislike is for the exurbs, yet the gentrified range gets a pass from him. The resorts, he hopes, will morph into "micropolitan" areas. This neologism might fit places like Flagstaff or Yakima.
Travis' strategy for choking sprawl and exurbia is an amplified version of one-time Albuquerque Mayor David Rusk's regional government approach. But the darkside of this approach, in a region the size of the West, is [more] reliance on the Federal Government, that already owns most of the West anyway.
This is where Travis falls into the trap he so much wants to West to avoid. It is clear from any number of referenda, a drastic but definitive form of "bottom-up planning," that one of the West's major amenities, ranking with mountains, deserts, and open natural space, is the absence of government meddling. The Federal Government, from the Border Patrol to the Bureaus of Land Management and Indian Affairs does not inspire confidence. Travis uses sound logic, but bad politics, in suggesting that the Feds administer already suspect land use planning.
What I think Professor Travis needs is another book that takes on some of the friction development in the West faces. He is, I believe, far too optimistic about the West's water supply [p. 31], and he is almost silent with respect to tribal claims, and to the immigration ("undocumented Americans") issue, including Mexican state-sponsored irridentism. But, he is at Boulder.
Regardless, Professor Travis has a deep appreciation for the complexity of the West, is technically on the cutting edge of Geography, and, I suspect, has a lot more to say. Readers in this field should look forward to his next books.
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Student Achievement and the Changing American Family
D. Grissmer
Manufacturer: RAND Corporation
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ASIN: 0833016164 |
Book Description
Undercuts the conventional wisdom about failing schools, deteriorating families, and ineffective public policies.
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A Way out of No Way: Changing Family and Freedom in the New South (The American South Series)
Dianne, Swann-Wright
Manufacturer: University Press of Virginia
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ASIN: 0813921376 |
Book Description
Using the experiences of her own family of freed slaves, the author looks at relations between plantation owners and their slaves after emancipation, how African Americans made a new life as employees and landowners as Piedmont Virginia entered the twentieth century.
Book Description
There is a new breed of bride who comes to the altar looking to blend families and cultures, status and style, sophistication and mores, and who wants celebrations that appeal to her own unique real-life expression of values, background, customs, and romance.
Diane Meier Delaney was one such bride. While planning her own wedding, she grappled with wedding guides, magazines, and books that spoke to the clean slate of a wasp-waisted, twenty-two-year- old bride who had her whole life ahead of her. But she shared the frustrations of countless brides who couldnÂ't find anything that spoke to a grown-up woman with a richly lived life to be proud of.
The New American Wedding is the first book that acknowledges and speaks to this authentic American idea of the bride and groom and points the way to:
• creating their own ceremony with their own distinctive ritual
• looking for symbols of union that may or may not fit around oneÂ's finger
• integrating children and families from previous relationships
• considering new issues of style and status
• managing the challenges of interfaith, interracial, and cross cultural partnerships
• balancing family expectations with the coupleÂ's own desires
A comment on the good news of the changing culture that includes beautiful photographs and insider advice from top fashion and jewelry designers, florists, caterers, planners, and photographers who set the trends for American weddings, along with DelaneyÂ's savvy, been-there-done-that tips, The New American Wedding will be the must-have guide for the modern bride.
Customer Reviews:
A must read!.......2006-09-23
This book is well written, well researched, entertaining, understandable and well worth reading. As a historian I have been trained as an objective observer and researcher, which has made me over analyze everything going into my own wedding. I wanted to know where our traditions came from and what other avenues there were for so called non traditional weddings. What I've learned is that weddings are now an industry, and a pricey one at that, but I wanted something unique and personal for my own ceremony and there are few good resources out there. Many sources claim to have unique ideas and customizable products, but it's the same garbage that everyone else has. When I started telling my friends and family the direction I wanted to go with my own wedding they looked at me like I was crazy. "What do you mean you don't want to wear a wedding dress?" They didn't understand. I told them to read "The New American Wedding" because this book is able to articulate and explain everything I had been feeling, and it shows that I'm not alone in my thinking.
If you're looking for something really different, this is it..........2006-03-23
I'm a young bride, and I thought this book would provide new, less traditional ideas to help me plan my wedding. The ideas in this book were definitely new and unique, but nothing I would ever do at my wedding. These ideas weren't just not traditional, some were downright out there. And if that's what you're looking for, then great, I think this is an excellent book for you. Some examples: turning your wedding into a costume party (with the bride copying Celine Dion's infamous wedding attire), having the audience speak in sync and perform the wedding ceremony rather than a single officiant, and potato sack races and pony rides. All cute ideas, but so out there that it won't appeal to a broad audience.
The book contained some pictures (which I love looking at), but not that many. Most of the pages were adorned with sketches of dresses, flowers or other decorations. For someone who isn't very creative (which is why I'm reading this book in the first place), the drawings were too abstract for me to really get any ideas from. Plus, I felt like there was a lot of writing and personal story-telling, which was nice, but was a little excessive.
I think this book will appeal to some people - those looking for something truly different, but not to people looking to stay with "tradition" and add a little flavor.
WHY NOT A PONY?.......2006-01-02
Why Not a Pony Ride?
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments, but I must say when I opened up a copy of THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING: RITUAL AND STYLE IN A CHANGING CULTURE, my first reaction was that it would take one helluva purse to foot the bill for the first-class weddings that New York City style and marketing maven Diane Meier Delaney presents. That is, however, neither the truth (as the LIBRARY JOURNAL would have us believe) nor reason to miss this lush, lively, funny, and wise book. There's no denying, this is opulence all right, but believe it or not, it embraces the affordable.
Just read it. Amidst wedding registry gifts that include the classic vase from Tiffany's, there are tools from Sears and a request for hundreds of sets of new underwear--to be donated to the needy in San Francisco because there's a shortage of underwear in Salvation Armies and Goodwills. (Makes sense, doesn't it? Meier-Delaney points out. We donate that out-of-fashion sweater, but who would want our underpants with the failing elastic?)
On one page of NEW AMERICAN WEDDING: an out-of-this-world flaming-red-wedding gown fashioned of enormous poppies and with a train longer than not just my living room but probably my whole house (yard included). A few pages away: the simplest, white linen sundress. As for the cake: will you choose one of chocolate and orange mousse with landyfingers, fashioned by a world-class patisserie or a marshmallow and Rice Krispies creation from your own kitchen?
Ladies and gentlemen, there's an enormous range here. From the engagement to the honeymoon, Meier Delaney presents an array of choices for the bride and groom to choose from-from the most extravagant to the most simple--and I'll bet that about 99% of them you never thought of!
What if you're not a bride or groom to-be or wannabe, is there any reason to read this book? Absolutely! THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING is an astute commentary on changing American culture and traditions, and it's also a sparkling example of out-of-the box thinking. Whether a mousetrap or a wedding, the design challenge is the same: to maintain the tradition and functionality (the trap must catch the mouse; the wedding must marry the people, the families, the values, the things) while breathing innovation into the creation. The plans and designs of many so-called out-of-the-box thinkers fail because they either stay too close to the box, like a mime in the shadows, or they venture so far outside the box that they forget all about it. The box is left out in the alley in the rain, the garbage truck is rounding the corner, and the designers are down the street doing the hokey-pokey. What Meier Delaney does is take that old traditional wedding box apart very carefully, piece by piece, then put those pieces back together into a shape that has all the qualities of a wedding but is so unique and unboxy that it appears to be something entirely different. Something more like a crystal or a Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome.
Told in a charming, sophisticated, writerly voice and with a narrative thread that reads like the kind of good book you like to curl up with, what amazes me is that Meier Delaney actually wrote this herself. It's not one of those "as told to" ghost-written deals. This woman not only has class and superb taste, confidence, and moxie, she's one heck of a writer. (Not to mention designer.) Chapter by chapter, as she chronicles the wedding decisions of a dozen recently hitched nontraditional couples, Meier Delaney weaves the story of her own mid-life engagement and marriage in 2002 to man-of-letters Frank Delaney, who many would call the BBC's answer to Dick Cavett and Charlie Rose.
Packaged as a high-end coffee-table-size book with glossy pages full of gorgeous photographs, THE NEW AMERICAN WEDDING is really a wild foray into creative thinking. Why not, as Meier Delaney suggests, have pony rides at your wedding reception? Why not a group lesson in car repair, water ballet, or tightrope walking instead of the cliché girl-in-a-cake or Chippendale pre-wedding bash? Why can't your dog be the maid-of-honor? Why not, instead of a traditional wedding dress, which Meier Delaney describes with her signature frankness as making her look like a float in a Mummer's Day Parade, wear cashmere pajamas? And is she kidding? No! According to her own story, the Meier Delaneys did have pony rides at their reception, she wore a curtain instead of a gown, and her German Short-Haired Pointer was the maid-of-honor. See what I mean when I said moxie?
The New American Wedding is a kind of wish book, a book for dreaming and finding inspiration, a book to help you identify and nurture your own style--for whatever purpose--take pride in it, and carry out your plans with abandon and aplomb. And as Meier-Delaney says, "Budgets aren`t really the deciding factor here. It's creativity and fresh thinking . . . . The thing to remember is that New American celebrations and receptions should never be done by the book."
Will Diane Meier Delaney take on the New American Divorce or maybe the New American Funeral next? I can't wait to find out.
The New American Wedding Bible.......2005-11-19
Diane Meier takes a fresh look at weddings and uncovers some exciting new trends that every bride-to-be should know. A beautifully produced book with loads of colorful illustrations and real wedding pics. A must have book that's sure to be around for decades.
I was there.......2005-11-16
I've known Diane since elementary school, and I attended her wedding with Frank Delaney that started her on the path that led to this book. The wedding was a really fun blend of tradition and originality, and was anything but "yes, we've got to attend the wedding because..." There was style and personality, but it all reflected their personalities, not some stuff they'd read in magazines. It was also warm and friendly, and enabled the people they knew to get to know each other. I'm sure many of the people who attended learned a whole new way of getting married that respects tradition, but goes beyond it in ways that are good for everyone involved. I've had no part in the creation of the book at all, but if she's conveyed even some of her own wedding experience in the book, it's a good one. And I can tell you that this is NOT someone who tells you what you should do but can't do it herself. She DID it. I was there. It was great.
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