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Books | Articles |
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Books American Standard of Living 1918-1988,
Clair Brown
Not an easy book to find, but
it’s
worth the effort. According to Brown, the
economic forces behind improved living standards
include
the following: mass production of goods with
continuous automation of production; introduction
of new goods
and services as a result of technological
innovation; development of credit and mass
marketing systems;
development of worldwide communication and
information systems; and integration of the
global economy.
Everyday Life in America Series
Sights,
sounds, and smells of daily life instead of dates,
battles, and “great men.” The Everyday Life Series
gives you a feel for what it would have been like
to be you in a different time period.
•
The Reshaping of Everyday Life, 1790-1840, Jack Larkin
•
The Expansion of Everyday Life, 1860-1876, Donald E. Sutherland
•
Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915,
Thomas J. Schlereth
• The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945, Harvey Green
The First Measured Century: An Illustrated Guide
to Trends in America, 1900-2000, Theodore
Caplow, Louis Hicks, and Ben J. Wattenberg
http://www.pbs.org/fmc/
The
20th century was the first to produce an extensive
statistical record, and The First Measured
Century uses that record to survey the extraordinary
changes that took place in American life between
1900 and 2000. The web site features an online
teachers guide, and, for those with time and
patience, there’s a free download of The First Measured
Century book.
The Good Old Days -- They Were Terrible! Otto
L. Bettmann
Filled with compelling images and
fascinating facts, this book is an instant cure
for nostalgia.
Historical Atlas of Massachusetts, Richard
W. Wilkie and Jack Tager, 1991 http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/wilkie/Wilkie/maps.html
Nice
collection of maps and charts (in color!): population
distribution, transportation, communication, and
much more.
Material World: A Global Family Portrait,
Peter Menzel
Profiles of 30 “statistically average” families
from different nations. The large family portraits
are unforgettable. They show families outside their
houses, surrounded by all their material possessions.
More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household
Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave,
Ruth Schwartz Cowan
Cowan argues that even after
industrialization and the introduction of “labor-saving” devices,
women were still spending as much time as ever
keeping house.
Never Done: A History of American Housework,
Susan Strasser
The reaction of an online reviewer: “I
dreamt life 100 years ago was so much better than
today. So simple, so lovely . . . but Strasser’s
book blew that theory out of the water.”
Nickel and Dimed,
Barbara Ehrenreich
Essayist and social critic Barbara
Ehrenreich worked at
a variety of low-wage jobs to get a feel for what
people go through when they try to make ends meet on
$6
to $7 an hour.
The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz
More
choices means greater freedom, right? Maybe not
says Barry Schwartz.
Pursuing Happiness,
Stanley Lebergot
Here’s
what Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley
said about Pursuing Happiness: “Writing with lucidity,
wit, and forthrightness . . . Lebergott argues
that the great American shopping spree is not mere
self-indulgence
but an essential part of what has been a remarkably
successful pursuit of happiness.”
Their Lives & Numbers: The Condition of
Working People in Massachusetts, 1870-1900, edited
by Henry F. Bedford
Interviews with people
who worked in the mills and factories of Massachusetts
during the late 19th century. Most of the interviews
originally appeared in annual reports issued
by
the Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor,
and they provide a good baseline for measuring
the improvement in our material standard of
living.
The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860,
George R. Taylor
Historians consider Taylor’s book
a classic. Here’s an excerpt that will bring you
back to reality when you’re “exhausted” after a seven-hour
drive on the interstate: “In 1812, a wagon loaded
with cotton cards and drawn by four horses took
75 days to travel from Worcester, MA to Charleston,
SC.”
↑ top Articles “America the Richest — Depending on How You Count,” David
Francis, The Christian Science Monitor,
July 1, 2004
Maybe some of our ambivalence over whether
or not we’re “better off” stems
from our tendency to equate standard of living with quality of life. They
are not the same. This article explains the major differences.
“Don’t Blame Wal-Mart,” Robert
Reich, The New
York Times, February 28, 2005
These days,
a lot of things might seem to be beyond our control,
but the economic, political, and social choices
we make can still have an impact.
Two sample quotes from Robert Reich’s article:
- “The fact is, today’s economy offers us a Faustian
bargain: it can give consumers deals largely
because it hammers workers and communities.”
- “The problem is, the choices we make in the market
don’t fully reflect our values as workers or as
citizens. I didn’t want our community bookstore
to close . . . yet I still bought lots of books
from Amazon.com. In addition, we may not see the
larger bargain when our own job or community isn’t
directly at stake. I don’t like what’s happening
to airline workers, but I still try for the cheapest
fare I can get.”
“Eliminating Child Labor,” Miriam Wasserman, Regional
Review, Quarter 2 2000 - Vol. 10, No. 2 http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2000/q2/kidlabor.htm
“Today’s debates on child labor and international
trade echo arguments heard in the United States less
than a century ago.”
“How Not to Buy Happiness,” Robert Frank, Daedalus,
Vol. 133, Issue 2, The MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=6&tid=14403
In
this essay Robert Frank contends that “gains in
happiness that might have been expected to result
from growth in absolute income have not materialized
because of the ways in which people in affluent societies have generally
spent their incomes.”
“Last 100 Years Show Growth of Luxury, Greed,” Cynthia
Crossen, The Wall Street Journal, November
27, 2000
The evolution of holiday gift-giving, 1900
to 2000.
“Lessons Learned from the History of Social Indicators,” Clifford
W. Cobb and Craig Rixford, Redefining Progress, November
1998
http://www.rprogress.org/publications/pdf/SocIndHist.pdf
A
highly readable piece on the use and gathering of
social statistics.
“A (Mild) Defense of Luxury,” James
B. Twitchell, The Chronicle of Higher Education,
March 15, 2002
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i27/27b00701.htm
Twitchell
has fun making the case that “consuming the unnecessary” can
be “liberating and democratic.”
“Standard of Living,” Catherine Hennessey
http://www.catherinehennessey.com/onestory.php3?number=66
Ms. Hennessey
was not pleased when a study reported that all 50
U.S. states and every Canadian province except Newfoundland
enjoyed a higher standard of living than her home
province of Prince Edward Island.
“Suddenly Rich, Poor Old Ireland Seems Bewildered,” Lizette
Alvarez, The New York Times, February 2,
2005.
An interesting perspective on the ambivalence
that often follows sudden prosperity. A sample
quote echoes
what many in the U.S. have been saying about American
life over the past 40 years: '“Many of us recoil at the vulgar fest that
is much of modern Ireland,' Irish government official Ms. O’Reilly begins,
before going on to cite its plunge into materialism, foul language, random
violence,
moral poverty and the culture of immediate gratification.”
“The World’s Best Country,” Laza
Kekic
http://www.economist.com/theworldin/international/
displayStory.cfm?story_id=3372495&d=2005
The Economist
Intelligence Unit’s quality-of-life index ranks more
than 100 countries by overall “quality of life” and “standard
of living.” It includes an explanation of the determinants
used in the rankings.
“The Worldwide Standard of Living Since 1800,” Richard
A. Easterlin, Journal of Economic Perspectives,
Winter 2000
Access to the Journal of Economic Perspectives
online archive is limited to members, but you might
be able to find this article elsewhere on the web
if you run a search.
↑ top Papers, Studies, and Speeches
“EU versus USA,” Fredrik Bergstrom and Robert
Gidehag, published by Timbro, 2004
http://www.timbro.com/euvsusa/
Timbro is a Swedish research
organization that compared 15 members of the European
Union with the 50 American states and found that
in the majority of EU countries GDP per capita
was lower than in most of the individual American states.
“Imagining the Future – An Irish Perspective,” address
by Emily O’Reilly, delivered at the 7th Annual Ceifin
Conference, November 3, 2004
http://www.charleville.com/food.htm
“Quality of Life in Europe: Life Satisfaction in
an Enlarged Europe,” published by European Foundation
for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions,
March 2004 http://www.eurofound.eu.int/living/qual_life/satisfaction.htm
↑ top
More Web Resources
“America’s Housing: 1900-2010,” Housing Facts,
Figures and Trends, The National Association of Home
Builders, http://www.nahb.com/housing_issues/facts.htm
Includes
a concise comparison of American housing in 1900,
1950, and 2000.
“How
Much Is That?”
http://www.eh.net/hmit/
Two highlights:
- What is the Relative Value? Five Ways to
Compare the Worth of a United States Dollar,
1789 – Present.
- Purchasing Power of the United States Dollar,
1665–2001
“Overwork in America: When the Way We Work Becomes
Too Much,” Ellen Galinsky, James T. Bond, Stacy S.
Kim, Lois Backon, Erin Brownfield, Kelly Sakai
http://familiesandwork.org
Public Broadcasting System
Two resources
on the PBS web site:
- Frontier House
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/
PBS cameras recorded the experiences of three contemporary American
families as they tried to live as Montana homesteaders did in the 1880s.
It wasn’t
always pretty. (Be sure to click on the Resources section.)
- The 1900 House
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/1900house
A British family volunteered to live the
way middle-class Londoners did in 1900: no
shampoo, very little hot water, a temperamental
oven, and corsets.
It didn’t look like fun. (The web site has online lesson plans.)
“Teaching With Documents Lesson Plan—Photographs
of Lewis Hine: Documentation of Child Labor,” National
Archives
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/hine
photographs/hinephotographs.html
The National
Archives web site uses the photos of Lewis
Hine as the basis for a lesson plan on child
labor.
“Worksheet on GDP and Standard of Living”
Student Version: http://www.bized.ac.uk/stafsup/options/works1.htm
Teacher Version: http://www.bized.ac.uk/stafsup/options/works2.htm
Online
worksheets that cover standard of living variables and serve as a basis
for making comparisons between countries. The worksheets are straightforward
and easy to use.
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