Forget Having It All

Download or read book Forget "Having It All" written by Amy Westervelt and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A clear-eyed look at the history of American ideas about motherhood, how those ideas have impacted all women (whether they have kids or not), and how to fix the inequality that exists as a result. After filing a story only two hours after giving birth, and then getting straight back to full-time work the next morning, journalist Amy Westervelt had a revelation: America might claim to revere motherhood, but it treats women who have children like crap. From inadequate maternity leave to gender-based double standards, emotional labor to the "motherhood penalty" wage gap, racist devaluing of some mothers and overvaluing of others, and our tendency to consider women's value only in terms of their reproductive capacity, Westervelt became determined to understand how we got here and how the promise of "having it all" ever even became a thing when it was so far from reality for American women. In Forget "Having It All," Westervelt traces the roots of our modern expectations of mothers and motherhood back to extremist ideas held by the first Puritans who attempted to colonize America and examines how those ideals shifted -- or didn't -- through every generation since. Using this historical backdrop, Westervelt draws out what we should replicate from our past (bringing back home economics, for example, this time with an emphasis on gender-balanced labor in the home), and what we must begin anew as we overhaul American motherhood (including taking a more intersectional view of motherhood, thinking deeply about the ways in which capitalism influences our views on reproduction, and incorporating working fathers into discussions about work-life balance). In looking for inspiration elsewhere in the world, Westervelt turned not to Scandinavia, where every work-life balance story inevitably ends up, but to Japan where politicians, in an increasingly desperate effort to increase the country's birth rates (sound familiar?), tried to apply Scandinavian-style policies atop a capitalist democracy not unlike America's, only to find that policy can't do much in the absence of cultural shift. Ultimately, Westervelt presents a measured, historically rooted and research-backed call for workplace policies, cultural norms, and personal attitudes about motherhood that will radically improve the lives of not just working moms but all Americans.

Download or read book The Price of Motherhood written by Ann Crittenden and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2002 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former New York Times reporter tackles the difficult issue of gender economic equality, confronting the financial penalties levied on motherhood.

Download or read book Miss Fortune written by Lauren Weedman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Los Angeles Times Bestseller For fans of Jenny Lawson, Sarah Colonna, and Lena Dunham, an acutely-observed and hilarious take on what happens when life doesn’t end up quite as you’d expected. “Gloriously smart, deeply funny, and nakedly vulnerable … I laughed. I cried. I thanked my lucky stars I didn’t ever have a threesome with co-workers in the Netherlands. But most of all, I fell in love with Lauren Weedman and the raw and complicated truths she so honestly explores on every page.” —Cheryl Strayed, author of the New York Times bestseller Wild Lauren Weedman is not okay. She’s living what should be the good life in sunny Los Angeles. After a gig as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, she scored parts in blockbuster movies, which led to memorable recurring roles on HBO’s Hung and Looking. She had a loving husband and an adorable baby boy. In these comedic essays, Weedman turns a piercingly observant, darkly funny lens on the ways her life is actually Not Okay. She tells the story of her husband’s affair with their babysitter, her first and only threesome, a tattoo gone horribly awry, and how the birth of her son caused mama drama with her own mother and birth mother, all with laugh-out-loud wit and a powerful undercurrent of vulnerability that pulls off a stunning balance between comedy and tragedy.

Download or read book All Is Not Forgotten written by Wendy Walker and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An assured, powerful novel that blends suspense and rich family drama...it is, in a word, unforgettable." --William Landay, author of DEFENDING JACOB Wendy Walker's All Is Not Forgotten begins in the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut, where everything seems picture perfect. Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as she heals from her physical wounds, and with no factual recall of the attack, Jenny struggles with her raging emotional memory. Her father, Tom, becomes obsessed with his inability to find her attacker and seek justice while her mother, Charlotte, struggles to pretend this horrific event did not touch her carefully constructed world. As Tom and Charlotte seek help for their daughter, the fault lines within their marriage and their close-knit community emerge from the shadows where they have been hidden for years, and the relentless quest to find the monster who invaded their town - or perhaps lives among them - drive this psychological thriller to a shocking and unexpected conclusion.

Download or read book Forget Me Not written by Jennifer Lowe-Anker and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2009-07-27 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2005, a previously nameless 10,031-foot mountain in Montana's Gallatin Range was officially designated Alex Lowe Peak by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. It was a hugely appropriate act. Not only was Alex Lowe one of the modern era's most extraordinary mountaineers, his life was intricately woven into the landscape of southwestern Montana.

Download or read book Your Mother Was Right written by Kate Reardon and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most useful tips for women, by women. While we have learned to respect (and finally listen to) the hard-won wisdom of our mothers, there’s nothing we love more than another nugget of great advice. We are all constantly on the lookout for new answers to life’s everyday challenges, such as: Q: How can I not look so tired? A: Massage your ears. (It works!) Q: How can I mend a hem if I don’t have time to sew it? A: Use adhesive tape from the first-aid kit. Q: What should I do if I’m having trouble sleeping? A: Eat a banana. Q: How can I keep a friendship platonic? A: Give him advice, especially about the way he drives. From beauty questions to cooking tips, money advice, style pointers, and all you need to know about love and friendship, here are the most helpful secrets that women from around the world have shared on Kate Reardon’s website, TopTips.com. So use this handy resource the next time you can’t remember what your mother always used to say, or when you’d just prefer advice from someone with a different perspective (who won’t give you a hard time if you don’t do what she says).

Download or read book Mother Night written by Kurt Vonnegut and published by Dial Press. This book was released on 2009-08-11 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Vonnegut is George Orwell, Dr. Caligari and Flash Gordon compounded into one writer . . . a zany but moral mad scientist.”—Time Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that will haunt us all. “A great artist.”—Cincinnati Enquirer “A shaking up in the kaleidoscope of laughter . . . Reading Vonnegut is addictive!”—Commonweal