Reform and Reaction: The Big City Public Library in American Life, Vol. 21 Book

First published in 1869, "The American Woman's Home" was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister, Catharine E. Beecher, an early advocate for women's higher education. Meeting the Beechers inside their books, essays and sermons is an introduction to the world of reserved radicals who seeded their beliefs throughout nineteenth century American society. Endearingly unsubtle, one knows where one stands with a Beecher within a few short sentences, and this Beecher bluntness surfaces on the first page of "The American Woman's Home":

"It is the aim of this volume to elevate both the honor and the remuneration of all the employments that sustain the many difficult and sacred duties of the family state, and thus to render each department of woman's true profession as much desired and respected as are the most honored professions of men."

Having dispensed with the raison d'être, the rest of the volume is a delightful stroll through planning kitchens, decorating homes and planting gardens. Some of the advice is wonderfully arcane (how to install your own self-deodorizing "earth closet"), and some is still in use today (incorporating work spaces in kitchen design and using fresh, local produce).

Witty and fun, the passion for living well regardless of economic status shines throughout, making it both engaging and ultimately contemporary.