Synopses & Reviews
Review
Austin Chronicle (TX) A must-read for anyone contemplating motherhood and a bible for all of us whose lives have been warped, splendored, and expanded by our dear little ones.
Review
Miami Herald This book is a lot like motherhood itself full of joy, trauma, insanity, hard work, exhaustion, and more than a few good laughs.
Description
Mothers Who Think: Tales of Real-Life Parenthood, which grew out of Salon's popular daily department of the same name, comprises nearly forty essays by writers grappling with the new and compelling ideas that motherhood has dangled before them. Elevating the discussion of motherhood above the level of tantrum control and potty training, this collection covers an unparalleled range of topics, from the impossibility of loving your children equally to raising a son without a father, from worrying that your privileged black child is becoming too "white" to the free-floating anger most mothers feel but wouldn't dare admit except to other mothers. The intelligent, candid essays in
Mothers Who Think are a testament to the notion that motherhood gives women more to think about, not less.
Coeditors Camille Peri and Kate Moses have assembled the best writing from the website's first two years, including works by "Mothers Who Think" regulars Anne Lamott, Chitra Divakaruni, Susie Bright, and Stephanie Coontz; eloquent new essays by Jayne Anne Phillips, Sallie Tisdale, Susan Straight, Jane Lazarre, Nora Okja Keller, Beth Kephart, Ariel Gore, and Alex Witchel; and more than a dozen un-forgettable new voices.
Irreverent, wistful, hilarious, fierce, tender, these essays offer an unsparing look at the myths and realities, serious and silly sides, and thankless and supremely satisfying aspects of being a mother.
About the Author
Camille Peri is the editor of "Mothers Who Think." Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Parenting, Lear's, and Savvy.
Kate Moses is a founding editor of "Mothers Who Think" and a senior editor at Salon. She was previously an editor at Berkeley's North Point Press and the literary director at San Francisco's Intersec-tion for the Arts.
They both live in San Francisco with their families.