Thicker Than Water: Siblings and Their Relations, 1780-1920 - Couverture rigide

Davidoff, Leonore

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0199546487 ISBN 13 : 9780199546480

Editeur : Oxford University Press, 2011

Synopsis

xii 449p hardback, dustjacket shows 'Children of the Luard Family', a firm and bright copy, like new

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Brothers and sisters remain, for those that have them, an inextricable part of existence. In adult life they may never be in contact but they cannot be formally divorced. Brothers and sisters are frequently life's longest relationship. Yet until recently, historians have scarcely noticed. Thicker than Water is a pioneering history of sibling relationships in the long nineteenth century, from the last decades of the eighteenth to the first decades of the twentieth. The principal focus is on Britain, the first major capitalist society, and its middle classes, who were at the core of the nascent new order. It was their extensive family networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial to the rapidly expanding commercial and professional enterprises of the Victorian era. Davidoff examines what we know about sibling relationships at this time, before delving deeper, looking at their uses and meaning for British middle class families, how they operated within the economic, social, cultural, and religious constraints of their place and time, and how they changed as families became smaller from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. The issues raised throughout the book are grounded in an exploration of some specific themes, sibling intimacy and incest, sibling death, as well as in case studies of famous sibling relationships, such as that between William Gladstone and his sisters, and a revealing account of the household relations of perhaps the most influential interpreter of personal and familial life in modern society, Sigmund Freud.

Revue de presse :

The ideas of sisterhoods and brotherhoods are not new; however, these have seldom involved actual sibling relationships. In this fascinating volume about family relationships in Britain and Europe during a 140-year time span, Davidoff (sociology, Univ. of Essex, UK) examines those consanguineal relations so often passed over by historians. (S. J. Zuber-Chall, CHOICE)

A fascinating study of the networks that large, middle-class, professional families established in the long 19th century. (Auriol Stevens, Times Higher Education Supplement)

Historians and general readers alike will relish this book. (Jane Hamlett, History Today)

An intriguing read. (Who Do You Think You Are?)

Davidoff succeeds in demonstrating both the strangeness of the past and its relevance to the contemporary world where in the absence of a range of siblings young people begin to think of their friends as part of their family. (Hugh Cunningham, Journal of Social History)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Oxford University Press
• Date d'édition: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0199546487
• ISBN 13: 9780199546480
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 464