This volume depicts the changing attitudes towards domesticity in this country, from widespread reverence for the home in the nineteenth century to the lack of respect and attention that housewives have received and continue to receive in this century. Examining novels, letters, popular magazines, and cookbooks, Matthews argues that the culture of professionalism in the late nineteenth century and the culture of consumption that came to fruition in the 1920s combined to kill off the "cult of domesticity." She offers a challenging reassessment of the all-important task of providing a society's nurture and daily maintenance.