The Menstuff® library lists pertinent books on Mothers. See also books Mother-Daughters, Mothers-Sons
Ashworth, Trisha and Amy Nobile,
I was a Really Good Mom Before I had
Kids: Reinventing modern motherhood. "I don't know how
she does it!" is an oft-heard refrain about mothers today. Funnily
enough, most moms agree - they have no idea how they get it done,
and whether they even want the job. The authors spoke to mothers
of every stripe - working, stay-at-home, part-time - and found a
surprisingly similar trend in their interviews. After enthusing
about her lucky life for twenty minutes, a mother would then break
down and admit her child's first word was "Shrek." As one mom
put it, "Am I happy? The word that describes me best is
challenged." Fresh from the front lines of modern motherhood
comes a book that uncovers the guilty secrets of moms today...in
their own words. This book diagnoses the craziness and offers real
solutions, so that mother can step out of the madness and learn to
love motherhood as much as they love their kids. You need this
book if: you consider going to the dentist your special
"alone time"; you're competitive about winning Chutes and Ladders;
you reflexively refer to the bathroom as "the potty"; you once
introduced yourself at an important business meeting as "Andrea's
mom"; or you'd trade your husband for a housekeeper. Chronicle
Books, www.chroniclebooks.com,
2007, ISBN 0-8118-5650-X 
Berry, Mary Frances, The Politics of Parenthood: Child
care, women's rights and the myth of the good mother. Who is
responsible for our children - and why? American
society still clings to a family model in which child care is a
woman's responsibility. But this trailblazing book by a prominent
historian and former official of the Carter administration
suggests that behind the rhetoric of maternal responsibility are
issues of power, resources and control Reaching back into the
American past - and into the experiences of black, white and
Native Americans - the author reveals how recent our definition of
"good" parenting really is. For example, both Thomas Jefferson and
John Adams were raised by their fathers. She argues that what
matters is not who cares for the children, but the quality of the
care. She calls for a new model of parenting based not on
ideology, but on children's needs. Gloria Steinem says about this
book, "In a rare book the author shows that men of the past were
more equal parents and that equal responsibility for children is
the basis of gender equality. If the first stage of revolution was
proving that women can do what men do. This book heralds the next
stage: Men can do what women do." Viking, 1993
ISBN 0-670-83705-9 Buy
this book!
Elliott, Michele ed, Female Sexual Abuse of Children. The
subject of female sexual abuse has been a dark, unexplored corner
of our field. Like most adhorrent aspects of human behavior, it is
easier and more emotionally congruent to deny, ignore, or
discredit that which we cannot accept or will not acknowledge.
Historical reactions to the discovery (and rediscovery) of incest
- from Freud to the False Memory Syndrome Foundation - are
poignant tributes to the enduring strength of our collective
resistance. There is no room in this, of all fields, for secrecy
or denial about any aspect of child abuse. There is no room for
cowardice, political ideology, or the focus of our attention and
resources on one area to the total exclusion of others. This is a
bold book and a valuable resource for our time. Guilford, 1994
ISBN 0-89862-004-X Buy
this book!
Gosline, Andrea Alban & Lisa Burnett
Bossi. Mother's Nature: Timeless wisdom for the
journey into motherhood. For expectant and new mothers, this
book is an exuberant celebration of motherhood through the
centuries and from around the world, with headings by Isabel
Allende, Maya Angelou, Thich Nhat Hanh, Marlene Dietrich, Princess
Grace of Monaco, Vladimir Nabokov, Adrienne Rich, Amy Tan, Carl
Jung, Mother Teresa, E.B. White, Ursula LeGuin, Mary
Wollstonecraft, the Dalai Lama, Simone de Beauvoir, and many
others. Join the circle and share in the boundless joy and wonder
of your wife or daughter becoming a mother. Conari Press, 1999
ISBN 1-57324-152-0 Buy
this book!
Gustafson, Diana L., Unbecoming
Mothers: The social production of maternal absence. In a
society where becoming a mother is naturalized, "unbecoming" a
mother - the process of coming to live apart from biological
children - is regarded as unnatural, improper, or even
contemptible. Few mothers are more stigmatized than those who are
perceived as having given up, surrendered, or abandoned their
birth children. This book examines this phenomenon with the social
and historical context of parenting in Canada, Australia, Britain
and the United States, with critical observations from social
workers, policymakers, and historians. This unique book offers
insights from the perspectives of children on the outside looking
in and the lived experiences of women on the inside looking out.
Haworth Clinical Practice Press, www.haworthpress.com,
2005, ISBN 0-7890-2453-5 
Jackson, Rosie, Mothers Who Leave: Behind the myth
of women without their children, Pandora, 1994
Radl, Shirley Rogers, Mother's Day is Over: The realities
& rewards of motherhood today. A few years ago Ann
Landers revealed that 70 percent of American mothers would not
have children if they could start over. The author explains why
that is so in this book, a courageous, totally unvarnished job
description of motherhood today. Newly revised and updated, she
tells her own story and the stories of hundreds of mothers she has
interviewed and corresponded with over fifteen years. Her message:
if you fell for the romantic image of motherhood - young glamorous
and blissful - as presented by advertisers and the media, only to
be let down by the reality, you are not alone. And if you are
contemplating motherhood, don't fall for the media image: read
this book instead. She loves her two children passionately, not
"neither love nor sudsier suds" she warns "can make you like the
responsibility, drudgery and boredom that all mothers know deep
down go with caring for their children. The unconditional love,
janitorial duties, financial support, always being "on call" -
these things never change. With warmth and humor, she reveals all
the darker feelings that must inevitably accompany an endlessly
demanding job, including that special guilt felt by mothers who
want a career or must work to survive. She would do it again. But
only when the realities of motherhood are understood and
confronted can the job be accepted for what it is, improved and
enjoyed for its own very special rewards. Arbor House, 1987
ISBN 0-87795-864-5 Buy
this book!
Thurer, Shari, The Myths of Motherhood: How culture
reinvents the good mother. This ground breaking and irreverent
history of motherhood is worth a hundred advice books for any
mother who's ever been made to feel guilty or frazzled by
society's impossible expectations. Analyzing data from the
psychoanalyst's couch to the hidden history of wet nursing, the
author wends her way from the Stone Age to the age of Hillary
Rodham Clinton, painting a vivid, often frightening picture of
life for mothers and children in a time when their roles were
constructed by men. Along the way, she debunks myth after myth -
exposing the not-so-golden ages of Classical Greece and the
Italian Renaissance, and revealing the pervasive ideal of Dr.
Spock's selfless, stay-at-home mother as the historical aberration
it actually was. A work of impassioned scholarship and astonishing
range. The book does nothing less than recast our conception of
good mothering. Penguin Books, 1995 ISBN 0-14-024683-5 Buy
this book!
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