Motherhood Studies

When MaryAnne Howland's son was turning 13, she organized a "Black Mitzvah" rite of passage celebration for him. Max is one of the one-in-three children in America being raised without a father in the home. Among African Americans, that number is reported to be as high as 72 percent. To help fill the father-shaped hole in Max's life as he transitioned from boyhood to manhood, MaryAnne invited four men from different corners of her life - an engineer, a philanthropist, a publisher, and a financial planner - to become Max's mentors.

In the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women. In inland Southern California, near the desert and the Mexican border, Susan Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African-American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college, they married and drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write.

This diary of acclaimed psychologist and radical feminist icon Phyllis Chesler was a pioneering work when it was first published in 1979. A look into the second wave of feminism and the era’s changing attitudes toward motherhood and pregnancy, With Child - now with an updated preface from her son - remains relevant for mothers today.

Sweet, supportive, dependable, selfless. Long before she had children of her own, journalist Carrie Mullins knew how mothers should behave. But how? Where did these expectations come from—and, more importantly, are they serving the mothers whose lives they shape? Carrie's suspicion, later crystallized while raising two small children, was that our culture’s idealization of motherhood was not only painfully limiting but harmful, leaving women to cope with impossible standards—standards rarely created by mothers themselves.

Norma Herrera y Mariana Rivera, madresposas y amas de casa por convicción, muchas veces, con uno que otro secreto de su pasado, nos muestran porque el matrimonio y la maternidad también es una manera de ejercer la libertad de una mujer. Muchas veces se piensa que una mujer libre no es ni madre ni esposa. Nada más alejado de la realidad.

Find solace and strength through prayer. No matter how far our culture has come, we will never be able to shed the idea that women are primarily responsible for parenting their children. This obligation leaves women and mothers exhausted and burdened. Society urges them not to worry about their mothering job, while offering no tangible advice or measures customized to a mother's individual circumstances and requirements.

Why life is harder on American families than it's been in decades? This book takes the blame away from moms and puts it where it really belongs. Pressed for time and money, unable to find decent affordable daycare, wracked with guilt at falling short of the mythic supermom ideal-working and non-working American mothers alike have it harder today than they have in decades, and they are worse off than many of their peers around the world. Why? Because they're raising their kids in a family-unfriendly nation.

In this anthology of creative nonfiction, 28 writers set out to discover what they know, and don't know, about the person they call Mother. Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse and insightful collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers and expands our notions of motherhood in the South. The mothers in these essays were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time.

Part manifesto, part memoir, and part guide, this book unflinchingly flips conventional thinking surrounding motherhood on its head. From Danusia Malina-Derben, mother of 10, entrepreneur, thought leader, and critically acclaimed podcast host - this is a long-awaited, no-holds-barred book on why our current thinking about modern motherhood is overdue a radical overhaul.

Part memoir, part popular science, and part social commentary, Bottled Up probes breastfeeding politics through the lens of Barston’s own experiences as well as those of the women she has met through her popular blog, The Fearless Formula Feeder. Incorporating expert opinions, medical literature, and popular media into a pithy, often wry narrative, Barston offers a corrective to our infatuation with the breast. Impassioned, well-reasoned, and thoroughly researched, Bottled Up asks us to think with more nuance and compassion about whether breastfeeding should remain the holy grail of good parenthood.

In her first book, The Presidency in Black and White, journalist April Ryan examined race in America through her experience as a White House reporter. In this book, she shifts the conversation from the White House to every home in America. At Mama's Knee looks at race and race relations through the lessons that mothers transmit to their children.

Ho quarant'anni e spicci e non ho figli. Non li ho, e non ne voglio. Sono una childfree, cioè senza figli, che è diverso da childless, priva di figli. Una scelta versus una casualità. C'è stato un tempo in cui ero convinta che la mia vita avrebbe avuto senso solo quando avrei avuto dei figli. O almeno ero convinta di crederlo... Venivo circondata, o meglio, assediata senza via di scampo, dalle gravidanze di sorelle, cugine, cognate, nipoti, amiche, amiche delle amiche. Se non hai un figlio, nella tua vita di donna, cos'hai?

Millennial moms: You’ve survived pregnancy, and now you have a newborn baby and you’re entering your first year of newborn care. What’s next? Deep Breaths: The New Mom’s Handbook to Your Baby’s First Year is Michelle Pearson’s debut book. In her newborn baby book, this YouTube mom of five details what to expect during pregnancy, what to expect during the first year of motherhood, and much much more.

If Mama Goes South, We're All Going with Her looks at five biblical principles from Galatians for overcoming problems that weigh women down and dilute their influence on others. What does it really look like to "not grow weary in well doing"? Am I really making a difference? Why do I feel alone? These questions, and more, are touched upon with splashes of humor and plenty of personal depth.

Heartwarming and humorous, this tribute to moms of the world gathers the best things anyone ever said about motherhood. From Dolly Parton to Dear Abby, women (and a few men) crack wise on the subject of the center of every family, mommie dearest!