ABSTRACT
Nearly 30 years after its 1988 publication, Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era has retained much of its relevance. Scholars of mid-century culture turn to it for a variety of reasons: as an investigation into the suburban experience; as an inquiry into the relationship between domestic culture and politics; and as a key text in the reading of women's identity and experience. May's study remains a regular on university reading lists, and it has been republished and reedited several times since 1988. Homeward Bound has made a valuable contribution to the reading of mid-century American culture. Scholars do not debate the central tenets of May's thesis. But various commentators within academia have addressed them. The arguments May raised and the areas of American culture she analyzed remain of great interest to scholars. Many scholarly discussions of gender or the home in 1950s American culture mention Homeward Bound.
