The season
The author researched the history of the debutante ritual, a highly choreographed tribal rite. It begins in England six hundred years ago when wealthy fathers needed an efficient way to find appropriate husbands for their daughters. She traces the social seasons of young women on both sides of the Atlantic (London, Philadelphia, the American South, New York), often through their own words from diaries, letters, and interviews that Richardson conducted at contemporary balls. While exploring why the debutante tradition persists - and spread to Russia, China, and others nations - the author uncovered the cultural influence on the lives of daughters and ideas of women, courtship and marriage.
- Creator
- Richardson, Kristen