Rose-Colored Memories

In this exhaustively-researched book, Stephanie Coontz takes us on a trip down memory lane, with the purpose of pointing out the ruts in the road, washed-out bridges, and repeated flat tires. She disabuses the notion that despite what people think they remember, things weren't always so peachy around the old dinner table/'hood/job. It was a bit of a slog, however, as the facts and studies piled up. Remember in high school classes how at the end of a chapter there would be "Key Points"? I wanted that. But alas. There were a few nuggets I'll remember and take away, but the swirl of information was so incessant that I'm afraid much of it has already leaked out of this sieve I call my brain. If you want to skip the 409 pages, here are some spoilers.

1. The "welfare queen" churning out babies is a myth. The birth rate decreases as assistance increases.

2. There was one abortion for every 5 live births in the 1850s, and 1 for every 3 in the 1870s.

3. Two-thirds of historical societies for which evidence is available have condoned homosexual relations.

4. Black fathers not living in the house with their children tend to be more involved and spend more time with their children than white fathers in the same situation.

5. Memories are skewed. An interesting study revealed that immediately after summer camp, kids will, when asked, remember equal numbers of positive and negative things about their experience. As the days and weeks pass, however, the bad things tend to disappear, and what they remember are the good things.

6. The assertion that "half of all marriages end in divorce" is misleading. In the old days, people died at much younger ages, reducing the length of marriages in a different way.

Some of that was directly quoted from the book, and I apologize to the author for my plagiarism. She's a master, and I'm a hack. You get the idea, though. If you have a mind to remember data, dive in! It's comprehensive and impressive.