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229 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. vii (1943)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0229 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD A SURVEY of the literature on the family in this country for the past one hundred and fifty years reveals some very definite trends in both type and amount of interest in that subject. Without reference to the field of fiction, the last century witnessed very few realistic or thorough appraisals of fam- ily life, certainly nothing approaching what has been done today. For the most part the material consists of a host of common sense and often dogmatic statements; plenty of sweet chapters in the etiquette books; and thousands of pious platitudes delivered from the pulpits. John Howard Payne, the American- born actor, wrote the opera, Clari, or the Maid of Milan, in which there appeared the famous song, Home, Sweet Home. This was produced in the Covent Gar- den Theatre, London, in 1823. Its nos- talgic and sentimental qualities seem to have set the key for much of the writ- ing of the century. It must have ex- pressed and probably continues to ex- press much popular feeling. In his book, Manners, Culture and Dress of the Best American Society (1890), Richard A. Wells introduces the chapter on The Home with: If the home is graced and sweetened with kindness and smiles, no matter how humble the abode, the heart will turn lovingly toward it from all the tumult of the world, and it will be the dearest spot beneath the circuit of the sun (p. 245). Quite typical of the theological con- tributions was The Wedding Ring, a Series of Sermons on the Duties of Hus- band and Wife, by the noted clergyman, Thomas DeWitt Talmage. These con- tained the usual homilies on the im- mortal theme of marriage. The nineteenth century may be char- acterized as having been deluged with warnings, lamentations, exhortations, and eulogies on the American Home. While, no doubt, many of the current observations about the contemporary family merely duplicate the past and are largely on an emotional level, the serious students have become, for the most part, far more analytical and ob- jective than was possible in the 1800's. One important reason is that in the present century there have gradually been developed new and skillful tech- niques for the scientific study of so- ciety, and a type of objectivity so nec- essary for a competent investigation of the various aspects of human behavior. Definitive studies of every aspect of the family life have increased enor- mously since World War I. And now in the midst of the Second World War, this background of information and the scientific method make possible the pres- entation of the material in this volume. It represents the collective effort of authorities in the various fields which are concerned with or touch in one way or another on that unity of interacting personalities known as the family. It is perhaps significant that this vol- ume deals with a topic which has es- caped most of the students and writers of the past. War and the family never appears for serious consideration in any of the periodical literature in this country prior to 1914. Popular in- terest was centered around everything else connected with war-military strat- egy, politics, and profits-but not the effects on the family. In the last war a number of articles appeared, but as far as the editor can discover no books were written on the subject. THE ANNALS during 1917-18 did not publish a num- ber on War and the Family. Today the story is far different, as even a casual survey of the material will vii

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