New Books in Critical Theory Julia Bowes, "Every Man's Home a Castle: Parental Rights and the Makings of Modern Conservatism" (Princeton UP, 2026)
May 8, 2026
Julia Bowes, lecturer in gender history and author of Every Man's Home a Castle, traces how nineteenth‑century fights over schools, vaccines, and labor laws birthed modern parental rights politics. She charts coalitions from immigrants to anti‑vaccine activists and shows why schools became the main battleground for state power. The conversation ranges from legal battles to racial and class exclusions shaping today’s rhetoric.
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Empire Of The Father Shaped Parental Authority
- Early U.S. law framed the father as the sovereign household ruler with rights over children's labor, education, and chastisement.
- William Blackstone's "empire of the father" shaped expectations that the male head represented the individual in political life, linking household power to civic rights.
Postwar State Paternalism Drove Compulsory Schooling
- After the Civil War the state asserted new compulsory powers to unify the nation and promote republican fitness through schooling and child labor regulation.
- Compulsory education spread across Northeastern and Midwestern states as elites linked state paternalism to preserving democracy postwar.
Schools Became The State's Frontline For Health Policy
- Public schools became the everyday face of the state and thus the primary site of conflicts over vaccination, medical exams, and ideas of state medicine.
- Reformers used school-entry vaccine requirements and compulsory exams to extend public health, pulling resistant parents into broader anti-state struggles.
