Ungovernable: The Victorian Parent's Guide to Raising Flawless Children

About the Book

The wickedly funny feminist historian who brought you Unmentionable: A Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners is back, to educate you on what to expect when you're expecting . . . a Victorian baby.

Twenty-first century parents are drowning in theories and advice and guilt, with maybe one in a hundred managing some fa ade of success. What can we learn from our foremothers? Is it possible that the rather draconian methods of Victorian childrearing worked? Better than the ones we bend our backs to today?

Ungovernable will address parents' concerns about raising a model Victorian child, advising you on:

- How much lager to consume while pregnant

- How to select the best peasant teat for your child

- How to choose an appropriately homely governess

- Which toys are most likely to turn your child into a sexual deviant

- And more

Consulting actual advice manuals from the 19th century, Oneill takes us on a shocking and hilarious tour through the backwards, pseudoscientific, downright bizarre childrearing fashions of the Victorians, giving us some much-needed perspective on contemporary parenting fads.

About the Author :
Therese Oneill writes humor and rare history articles for many different popular outlets, including Mental Floss, The Week, The Atlantic, and Jezebel. She lives with her husband and children near Portland. She can be found online at www.writerthereseoneill.com where she runs a popular history and narrative blog.

Review :
PRAISE FOR UNMENTIONABLE:
"This book is full of awesome."--Jenny Lawson, #1 New YorkTimes bestselling author of FuriouslyHappy "Unmentionable transports us back to the world of middle-class 19th-century women, with special emphasis on the messy details that costume dramas airbrush out. . . . With a 4-year-old's scatological glee, Oneill details the logistics of old-time peeing, pooping, gestating, menstruating and mating . . . Oneill has dug up some lovely tidbits from the dustbin of history."--New York Times "An entertaining look at Victorian-era parenting advice...Oneill's irreverent guide is a reality check for those who might romanticize the era of strict self-discipline and unchallenged parental authority."--The Washington Post "Both fascinating and hilarious, Oneill has created a book so excellently informative about the Victorian period, it should be shelved right next to Dickens for reference. Your stomach will hurt so much from laughing, you'll be thankful you're not wearing a corset."--Bustle "Flat-out hysterical (and occasionally alarming)...Read it and be very, very glad you're a woman of modern times."--Good Housekeeping "If Unmentionable does not secure the Pulitzer Prize for Most Fascinating Book Ever, the whole gig is rigged. Hilarious, horrifying, shocking and revelatory."--Laurie Notaro, #1 New York Times bestselling authorof It Looked Different on the Model "If you've ever felt like you should have been born in another time, Unmentionable will disabuse you of that sensibility, and it will do so charmingly."--Vice/Broadly "It's hard to imagine a woman - or a teenage girl - who won't love this book."--Washington Post "One part sauciness, one part frankness, and one part sweet relief that readers live in the present, Oneill's book provides readers with a liberal dose of medical and women's history that's well worth taking."--Publishers Weekly "This book will banish your silly romantic notions of life in the nineteenth century and make you laugh out loud while doing it."--BookRiot "This wild ride through 19th-century child-rearing is an exploration of anal worms, strange tinctures, inappropriate education, child labor, and questionable food stuffs. Readers will learn the altogether shocking practices of Victorian parenthood-and be reminded that people did live to tell the tale...The author's breezy style strikes an amusing and marked contrast with the subject matter, which hopefully keeps readers focused on their successes as modern, enlightened parents-which the Victorians also considered themselves, a fact that is slyly related in delicious irony. While Oneill will likely not supplant Spock and Brazelton, she may well set parents at ease in her own hilarious way."--Booklist "While acknowledging the grim conditions of Victorian youth, Oneill offers a lighthearted romp through the more absurd side of the parenting books and trending childhood advice literature of the time. Ungovernable would make a good gift for a mom with a sense of humor."--Bust