![]() ![]() Here are some tidbits I enjoyed for various reasons: I know that not everyone at that time had a maid. Running a home and playing hostess have changed a bit since 1936! Though, to be fair, she was writing to people of a certain social class. The funny bits were the parts where I learned that there are FOUR types of pajamas, and TWO of them are suitable for entertaining guests, or the parts that assume that you have access to a maid at least some of the time. Interestingly, republished copies of this book drop that phrase from the title and simply mention the "single woman."Įven though some parts of this book are heavily dated and others funny in an unintended way, I did enjoy the straight talk about how to not be pitiful, how to take control of your own social life and home atmosphere, and how to be a pleasant sort of person. Of course, this book does a lot to encourage single women to enjoy their lives and not feel sorry for themselves. No one should feel like they are an unneeded surplus number. Hence, the genesis of the "extra women," a phrase that I find wistful and sad. So many men had been killed in the war that many women would never have the chance to marry. It's enlightening to look at it within its social context: after the first world war, there was a lot of anxiety about the sudden imbalance between the male and female population. This vintage guidebook was written in 1936 for a rather new category of woman: she who is single, working, and self-sufficient. ![]()
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