Calvin Goldscheider's comments about Reading History Sideways
"Arland Thornton's book Reading History Sideways is an intellectual feast. Systematically and meticulously he critically reviews the conceptual frameworks that have been used to study family histories and the forces in history that have shaped family life and family values. Remarkable in its breadth and depth, Thronton's contribution lies in his detailed assessment of sophisticated theoretical models and insights about family history, blended with a detailed review of cross-national empirical evidence. These are reshaped into an emergent paradigm that clarifies family dynamics and enhances our perspectives about family history. His overarching hypothesis about developmental idealism and its impact on family goals and values is extraordinary in its vision and a challenge to researchers studying contemporary families and the history of family processes. Social scientists, family historians, and all those concerned about families need to study this volume to guide their research and to learn how not to read history sideways. More importantly, they will need to reckon with the emerging theoretical arguments Thornton proposes. The book provides a mirror to understanding the past, an articulation of contemporary family theories and a guideline for future research on the most intimate of institutions, the family. After reading this book, few will be able to study family changes in the same way. In its vision of the past and the future few will be able to research family changes without taking into account its message. Few policy makers will be able to address issues of family and fertility control in developing countries without reconsidering their fundamental assumptions. Those who carry out comparative-historical studies of European and non-Western societies will be challenged to rethink their assumptions and refine their arguments. Thornton's book is grand theory at its best, embedded in strong empirical traditions, and generating hypotheses that future social scientists will test and re-test."
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Calvin Goldscheider, Brown University
Publication details for Reading History Sideways: The Fallacy and Enduring Impact of the Developmental Paradigm on Family Life.
