Private Lives

Library Journal

With a strongly feminist perspective, this fascinating portrait of a decade examines the expectations, limita tions, and mores of men and women who came of age in the Fifties. The subjects range from those who gradu ated from college in 1952 to those graduating in 1962. Organized chrono logically, the narrative begins with the nurturing of the children who would become the men of the grey flannel suits and the women of suburbia. It follows them, in their own words, through childhood, adolescence, col lege, marriage, parenthood, and ca reers. We see how they coped with ta boos such as homosexuality, adultery, and divorce. They reveal their strug gles with the Sixties, when traditional values were challenged. The interview technique works well here, for Eisler has a sensitive ear for the language. The book should have wide appeal. Recommended. Terrill Brooks, Baker Junior Coll. Lib., Flint, Mich.