Man and Wife: Richard and Kay Titmuss – My Parents’ Early Years

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Number of Pages: 288

The sequel to Oakley’s autobiography “Taking It Like a Woman”, this book examines the relationship between the author’s parents, her father’s sociological ideas as one of the founders of the welfare state and how they affected all their lives. As the only child of Kay Miller and Richard Titmuss – leading social commentator and founder of the welfare state – Ann Oakley’s life has been hugely influenced by ideas and social theory. This book, straddling the fields of biography, autobiography, history and sociology, draws on the private papers of Ann’s parents and her own memory of them and examines their lives and the conflicts between the world of the home and their public theories. Where “Taking It Like a Woman” examined the difficulties of being a woman in a traditional role who is sudddenly confronted by choice, here Oakley delves into the world of her mother, whose position in the home was regarded by both her parents as sacred and explores what this meant to her as a child.