Black women have been balancing the competing demands of work and home since before women even won the right to vote. But black voices and experiences are barely acknowledged in the mainstream "mommy wars" dialogue. Lonnae O'Neal Parkeris about to change all that, in this uncommonly smart and often witty examination — part memoir, part reportage — of how today's black women meet the challenges of marriage, motherhood, and work.

On the surface, Parker has the ideal life: she's a reporter for the Washington Postand has three adorable children and a doting husband. Yet behind the perfect persona is a woman on the verge of a breakdown from the stresses of trying to have it all. Only a pantheon of voices — from spectral slave women and ancestors who speak to her across time to her favorite pop cultural icons — keeps her sane and helps her to navigate the complex waters of being a woman in the modern world.

With an intelligence and range that recalls Anne Lamott and Paula Giddings, Parker proves herself not only a welcome addition to the ongoing discussion of race and gender in America but an astute cultural critic.

"AWashington Post journalist, wife and mother of three, Parker offers some sharp insights into balancing the multiple roles that engage contemporary women. Her remix blends history and memoir in 'an assembly of voices and perspectives... of women... whose struggles presaged modern womanhood' — that is, middle-class black women for whom deciding not to go to work 'wasn't an option at all.' Money management, child-rearing, career management, cooking, religion, sexuality, having fun — all the things that women chat about among themselves get their moments. Parker's reach is broad, embracing her family, historical models (e.g., Ida B. Wells Barnett, Madame C.J. Walker) and a wide array of artifacts of popular culture (film, soap opera, rap music, magazines, etc.). Race plays a role in most of her observations; sometimes, as in the issues of skin color, hair and passing, it takes center stage. Parker's volume is best read in segments; a certain repetitiveness characterizes the remixing, and the pop culture references date quickly. Most working women will, nevertheless, find food for thought; as Parker puts it, 'It's not that I believe that black women have all the answers — only that we have struggled with the questions longer and that sometimes that makes some of our tool sets more expansive.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

From a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist comes a refreshing look at women and the Mommy wars. Beneath the surface, Parker is a woman on the verge of a breakdown trying to navigate the complex waters of being a woman in the modern world.

Lonnae O'Neal Parkeris a Pulitzer Prize–nominated reporter for the Washington Post and a contributing editor to Essence. She lives in Prince George’s County, Maryland.