Thicker than Water
Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:1st Aug '13
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Thicker than Water is a pioneering study of sibling relationships from the last decades of the eighteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth. The particular focus of the book is on Britain and its middle classes, who were at its core, and the role of family networks created through sibling relationships. Leanore Davidoff examines what we know about the relationships of brothers and sisters 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.
Review from previous edition 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? *
A compelling and pathbreaking exploration of the neglected subject of siblingship. Hugely illuminating, informed by profound and broad scholarship, and also wonderfully readable, it is a work that will be of interest to historians and social scientists of all persuasions. * Janet Carsten, University of Edinburgh *
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 *
ISBN: 9780199678365
Dimensions: 235mm x 156mm x 25mm
Weight: 656g
464 pages