Includes bibliographical references and index.

Everything you know about home economics is wrong --T︣he road to home economics --T︣he Lake Placid Conference --F︣ood will win the war --P︣erhaps it wasn't really a man's job after all --I︣t's up to the women --C︣lothes moths work for Hitler --F︣rom coveralls to housecoats --T︣he iron fist in the oven mitt --S︣elling Mrs. Housewife --N︣ew directions --N︣ew homemakers build the future --B︣eyond stitching and stirring --A︣ddressing the enemy --H︣ome economics at risk --W︣hat would Ellen do? --H︣ow to bring back home ec.

"The surprising, often fiercely feminist, always fascinating, yet barely known, history of home economics. The term "home economics" may conjure traumatic memories of lopsided hand-sewn pillows or sunken cakes. But obscured by common conception is the story of the revolutionary science of better living. The field exploded opportunities for women in the twentieth century by reducing domestic work and providing jobs as professors, engineers, chemists, and businesspeople that were otherwise foreclosed. In The Secret History of Home Economics, Danielle Dreilinger traces the field's history from small farms to the White House, from Victorian suffragists to Palo Alto techies. Home economics followed the currents of American culture even as it shaped them; Dreilinger brings forward the racism within the movement along with the strides taken by Black women who were influential leaders and innovators. She also looks at the personal lives of home economics' women, as they chose being single, shared lives with women, or tried for egalitarian marriages. This groundbreaking and engaging history restores a maligned subject to its rightful importance"--Provided by publisher.