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Rating: 
Summary: Flaws within the thesis
Review: This book presents a very interesting background for a very interesting period of American history (the late-19th century). The author explores a crisis in manhood through the use of period success manuals. The books, themselves, represent a sort of metaphorical voyage for success. The books were very expense (often a whole family's weekly salary) and they were often "gilded" (although, their construction was very cheaply and poorly done). These manuals were written by prominent figures and were geared for subscription selling to rural middle-class families, primarily living in the Midwest. The "crisis" in the author's thesis, however, is the overlooked fact that these books were merely bought for social status. Not only were these books sold in high volume, but they were often advertised as "no home should be without them". Additionally, the door-to-door salesmen often advised a family that all their neighbors had all made the wise investment, and that they certainly didn't want to be the only disadvantaged family in the area, hence the prestige of ownership. Certainly, these manuals were read, and, perhaps, utilized to a certain level; however, the author's assumptions regarding their overall extraordinary level of use is flawed. Hilkey asserts that the large number of purchases of these manuals constituted a cultural crisis in the rural areas of the United States, especially among middle-class boys who were growing up in an era of changing social roles and mores. Simply, Hilkey should re-exam her thesis from the prospect that these success manuals were simply bought as nothing more than very expensive coffee table books with very little readable and implementation value.
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