Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth -- A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen"
by Jane Lancaster
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jane LancasterEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-05-31
ISBN: 1555536522
Number of pages: 428
Publisher: Northeastern
Book Reviews of Making Time: Lillian Moller Gilbreth -- A Life Beyond "Cheaper by the Dozen"
Book Review: Mercy maude, what a biography!
Summary: 5 Stars
"This is funny, you might like it."
That suggestion from a long-ago English teacher introduced me to a book called "Cheaper By The Dozen," which in turn kicked off a lengthy fascination with the Gilbreth family and their other books. Along the way, I got a taste of the fact that Lillian Moller Gilbreth was among the more important women of her generation, up there with Marie Curie and Eleanor Roosevelt. But, as other Gilbreth-philes surely know, her children's writings only hinted at that importance, concentrating instead on her role as the family matriarch. This, the first full-length biography not written by a family member, is therefore a welcome addition to the already sizeable collection of books about the Gilbreths.
Jane Lancaster's research is very impressive, as is her ability to overcome the surviving Gilbreth children's noted concern for their privacy. Through over a century's worth of private letters and papers, she provides a surprisingly vivid look at the family you thought you knew as a kid. More importantly, she provides a well-rounded look at Lillian Gilbreth, who even in early life was not nearly the demure introvert so often portrayed elsewhere.
Though very much a product of her 19th century upper crust California childhood, she was quite independent minded from the beginning, as reflected in her decision to go to college, get married and move East while most of her siblings never left home. A lifelong Republican and a close friend of Herbert Hoover, she was nonetheless an early and effective advocate of workplace safety regulations, paid breaks, eight-hour workdays and, of course, women's right to work outside the home. (Oddly, Lancaster makes no mention of Gilbreth's views on women's suffrage, by far the most prominent feminist issue of the era.) In earning a PhD, she overcame not only sexism and the responsibilities of a large family, but a "lost" dissertation as well.
There are also more stories of the children, although few of them are as lighthearted as the ones you already know. Chances are you'd already figured out that "Cheaper By The Dozen" and "Belles On Their Toes" were a couple of idealized memoirs, but if not, prepare to have your bubble burst! Lillian's long absences from home after Frank's death were quite hard on some of the younger children, and Lancaster suggests (without going into much detail) that many of their childhood memories were not all that rosy. Still, Lillian's heroic role in keeping the large family together through hard times comes through everywhere.
I do find Lancaster's thesis - that Mrs. Gilbreth's reputation was shortchanged through her simplistic portrayal in "Cheaper" - slightly unfair. As at least four generations of middle-schoolers know, that book ends with Mother choosing to soldier on with Dad's business after his death and to continue raising all her children on her own. That was no small undertaking for a woman in 1924 or for a single parent of eleven children in any era. (If anything, it gives her slightly more credit than is due: Lancaster reveals here that she briefly sent one daughter to live with her grandmother in California.) The admittedly less-remembered "Belles On Their Toes" and "Time Out For Happiness" are both loaded down with accolades for her achievements both at home and professionally. Also, engineering is not like music, sports, art, or literature - the geniuses of the field, male or female, are generally remembered only by people who practice it. Still, Lancaster does have a point that this pioneering giant of her profession is too often remembered only as a doting mother. And she's done a great job of helping to change that.
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