Jana Riess

I think that many people are interested because there is a nostalgia factor. I think some people have the idea that a Mormon family today might be like their grandparents' families were 50 years ago. And so they're interested because they can see how different their own lives are now. You know, they're not coming from families that have six kids, for example.

They're not coming from families where the husband goes off, leave it to beaver style, and the mother stays home with those kids. So part of it is, I think, a nostalgia for a lost sense of America. Now, as a historian, I'm going to stop right there and say that that particular vision of America was not actually accurate, even in the 1950s.

They're not coming from families where the husband goes off, leave it to beaver style, and the mother stays home with those kids. So part of it is, I think, a nostalgia for a lost sense of America. Now, as a historian, I'm going to stop right there and say that that particular vision of America was not actually accurate, even in the 1950s.

They're not coming from families where the husband goes off, leave it to beaver style, and the mother stays home with those kids. So part of it is, I think, a nostalgia for a lost sense of America. Now, as a historian, I'm going to stop right there and say that that particular vision of America was not actually accurate, even in the 1950s.

However, the idea persists that that was a vanishing kind of family in America.

However, the idea persists that that was a vanishing kind of family in America.

However, the idea persists that that was a vanishing kind of family in America.

Right. And we are having a national conversation right now about fertility and about how many children families should be having. And there is a movement among some quarters in the United States to get people to have more kids. And so part of the fascination, I think, is looking at families that do have more kids. And this isn't just Mormons.

Right. And we are having a national conversation right now about fertility and about how many children families should be having. And there is a movement among some quarters in the United States to get people to have more kids. And so part of the fascination, I think, is looking at families that do have more kids. And this isn't just Mormons.

Right. And we are having a national conversation right now about fertility and about how many children families should be having. And there is a movement among some quarters in the United States to get people to have more kids. And so part of the fascination, I think, is looking at families that do have more kids. And this isn't just Mormons.

This is also evangelicals, even stretching back to looking at the Duggars, right, with 19 kids and counting. And then however many they wound up with, I don't know. It's not just in that sense Mormons. It's all families that are different from our own families. How do they feed that many people? What's it like to go to Costco and try to buy for 19 kids? We have a lot of fascination.

This is also evangelicals, even stretching back to looking at the Duggars, right, with 19 kids and counting. And then however many they wound up with, I don't know. It's not just in that sense Mormons. It's all families that are different from our own families. How do they feed that many people? What's it like to go to Costco and try to buy for 19 kids? We have a lot of fascination.

This is also evangelicals, even stretching back to looking at the Duggars, right, with 19 kids and counting. And then however many they wound up with, I don't know. It's not just in that sense Mormons. It's all families that are different from our own families. How do they feed that many people? What's it like to go to Costco and try to buy for 19 kids? We have a lot of fascination.

Yeah. It's a bit of a microcosm of many of the conversations that we're having right now in American society more generally about Certainly about families and about what we want with our lives, the decisions that we have. I think some of the traditional wife, the trad wife interest is driven by a sense of people feeling perhaps overwhelmed by the choices that feminism has brought for them.

Yeah. It's a bit of a microcosm of many of the conversations that we're having right now in American society more generally about Certainly about families and about what we want with our lives, the decisions that we have. I think some of the traditional wife, the trad wife interest is driven by a sense of people feeling perhaps overwhelmed by the choices that feminism has brought for them.

Yeah. It's a bit of a microcosm of many of the conversations that we're having right now in American society more generally about Certainly about families and about what we want with our lives, the decisions that we have. I think some of the traditional wife, the trad wife interest is driven by a sense of people feeling perhaps overwhelmed by the choices that feminism has brought for them.

I mean thank God for those options. Thank God for those opportunities and choices that women have now. But you can't say that it's not complex. You know you can't say that it's easy to make all of those choices about family and career and whatever else it is. So we talked about how we're not having large families anymore to anything like the degree that we might have generations ago.

I mean thank God for those options. Thank God for those opportunities and choices that women have now. But you can't say that it's not complex. You know you can't say that it's easy to make all of those choices about family and career and whatever else it is. So we talked about how we're not having large families anymore to anything like the degree that we might have generations ago.

I mean thank God for those options. Thank God for those opportunities and choices that women have now. But you can't say that it's not complex. You know you can't say that it's easy to make all of those choices about family and career and whatever else it is. So we talked about how we're not having large families anymore to anything like the degree that we might have generations ago.

But we're also not rural people. Most of us have no idea where our food comes from. I'm afraid I count myself in that group. I have a lot to learn. And so part of the fascination with some of these lifestyle influencers is not just the religion and it's not just about gender, but it's also about a disappearing kind of rural America that they have idealized.