New and Improved: The Transformation of American Women's Emotional Culture

As the Victorian era drew to a close, American culture experienced a vast transformation. In many ways, the culture changed even more rapidly and profoundly for women. The "new woman, " the "new freedom, " and the "sexual revolution" all referred to women moving out of the Victorian home and into the public realm that men had long claimed as their own. Drawing on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of women from a wide range of backgrounds and geographic regions, John C. Spurlock and Cynthia A. Magistro offer powerful insights into middle-class women's experiences of American culture in this age of transition. They document the ways in which that culture - its new technologies, advertising, and movies - shaped women's emotional lives and how these women appropriated the new messages and ideals. In addition, the authors describe the difficulties that women encountered when emotional experiences failed to match cultural expectations.