This book offers a fresh interpretation of American social history, emphasizing the vital role of the family and household autonomy and the joint threats to the family imposed by industrial organization and the state. Carlson shows that the United States - rather than being "born modern" as a progressive consumerist society - was in fact founded as an agrarian society composed of independent households rooted in land, lineage and hierarchy.

It also explains how the social effects of industrialization, particularly the "great divorce" of labor from the home, has been a defining issue in American domestic life, from the 1850s to the present.

The book critically examines five distinct strategies to restore a foundation for family life in industrial society, drawing on the insights of Frederic Laplay, Carle Zimmerman, and G. K. Chesterton and outlines the necessary basis for family life. Family survival depends on the creation of meaningful, "pre-modern" household economies. As the author explains, "both men and women are called home to relearn the deeper meaning of the ancient words, husbandry and housewifery."