Review: 'The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800's' by Marc McCutcheon

The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800's by Marc McCutcheon, 1993, Writer's Digest, $18.95, hardbound, 308 pages. Category/Genre: reference. Cover: pink. Ugh. But the pictures on it are cool. Where we got it: bought it. Where you can get it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble.


We got this book due to our interest in writing steampunk, but there are various other genres to which the information lends itself, including historical fiction and westerns. Historians would probably like this book, too. 

This book covers a multitude of handy topics: slang, dating and courtship customs, hair styles, house furniture, currency, food preservation, and amusements, plus it touches on slavery and black plantation culture, the Civil War, the range, and crime. 

McCutcheon also includes chronologies of events, noted books and novels of the period, selected magazines, innovations, and popular songs. 

An excellent reference book. 

If you like this one, try: The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England from 1811-1901, by Kristine Hughes.