In case you missed it: here’s my bitchy little piece in @bookforum on the historical conditions that gave rise to the tradwife, and the elisions required to claim that being a housewife is sustainable, politically defensible, or healthy for women: www.bookforum.com/print/3004/l...
Fully admitting my bias, the delusion of “tradwife” was debunked comprehensively decades ago in the award-winning book “More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave” by Ruth Cowan (my mother).
Really appreciated how succinctly you pointed out Davis' knowledge gaps (or omissions). I can't help but think your review was more informative than the book itself.
Just listened to the podcast episode where you and Adrian discussed tradwives. I really enjoyed hearing you expand on things from this review. Excellent episode. Great fun. And I learned a lot.
