It was the 1950's and Betty Crocker, Jell-O, and TV sitcoms idealizing the perfect family were all the rage. Unfortunately, they really didn't make us happy.
Roles for women were defined by making their families happy or appear happy at all costs. Women were expected to be the ideal caring mother, perfect homemaker and obedient wife, carrying out every wish of her husband. Girls were expected to play with dolls, be poised and ladylike, and without complaint be stand-in mothers.
This book is a firsthand account of what it was like growing up as a female in middle America during the...