The I Hate to Housekeep Book

Title: The I Hate to Housekeep Book

Published: 1962

Author: Peg Bracken

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & World Inc.

Bracken’s writing is often irreverent and sometimes flippant, but not necessarily subversive, which makes The I Hate to Housekeep Book a fascinating study in expectations for homemakers in the 1960s. Like several of the texts in this collection, Bracken’s book shows a real and deeply held sympathy for the often thankless role of a housewife; in the foreword, she writes, “She is faced constantly with mute but persistent supplicants for attention. There are several choices; move it, clean it, shine it, brush it, wash it. Or hide it” (page ix). The main trait that sets this manual apart is that its instructions are not for perfect or overly complex solutions to household needs; rather, Bracken focuses on practical and timesaving ways to keep up at home. However, the text never rises to a second level of patriarchal awareness; that is, noting that gendered expectations of homemakers are themselves a tool of prejudice, not just the complexity of the tasks needed to satisfy those expectations.