As an executive at "The Washington Post" and mother of three, Steiner has lived every side of the "mommy wars." In this new book, she commissions 26 outspoken mothers to write about their lives, their families, and the choices that have worked for them. The result is a frank, surprising, and utterly refreshing look at American motherhood.

With motherhood comes one of the toughest decisions of a woman’s life: Stay at home or pursue a career? The dilemma not only divides mothers into hostile, defensive camps but pits individual mothers against themselves. Leslie Morgan Steiner has been there. As an executive at The Washington Post, a writer, and mother of three, she has lived and breathed every side of the “mommy wars.” Rather than just watch the battles rage, Steiner decided to do something about it. She commissioned twenty-six outspoken mothers to write about their lives, their families, and the choices that have worked for them. The result is a frank, surprising, and utterly refreshing look at American motherhood. Ranging in age from twenty-five to seventy-two and scattered across the country from New Hampshire to California, these mothers reflect the full spectrum of lifestyle choices. Women who have been home with the kids from day one, moms who shuttle from full-time office jobs to part-time at-home work, hard-driving executives who put in seventy-hour-plus weeks: they all get a turn. The one thing these women have in common, aside from having kids, is that they’re all terrific writers. Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley vividly recounts how her generation stormed the American workplace–only to take refuge at home when the workplace drove them out. Lizzie McGuire creator Terri Minsky describes what it felt like to hear her kids scream “I hope you never come back!” when she flew to L.A. to launch the show that made her career. Susan Cheever, novelist, biographer, and Newsday columnist, reports on the furious battles between the stroller pushers and the briefcase bearers on the streets of Manhattan. Lois R. Shea traded the journalistic fast track for a house in the country where she could raise her daughter in peace. Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff, chief operating officer of the Women’s National Basketball Association, argues fiercely that you can combine ambition and motherhood–and have a blast in the process. Candid, engaging, by turns unflinchingly honest and painfully funny, the essays collected here offer an astonishingly intimate portrait of the state of motherhood today. Mommy Wars is a book by and for and about the real experts on motherhood and hard work: the women at home, in the office, on the job every day of their lives. Including these essays: “Neither Here nor There” by Sandy Hingston “The Mother Load” by Terri Minsky “Sharks and Jets” by Page Evans “Baby Battle” by Susan Cheever “Guilty” by Dawn Drzal “The Donna Reed Syndrome” by Lonnae O’Neal Parker “Mother Superior” by Catherine Clifford “Good Enough” by Beth Brophy “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn” by Lois R. Shea “What Goes Unsaid” by Sydney Trent “I Hate Everybody” by Leslie Lehr “Before; After” by Molly Jong-Fast “I Do Know How She Does It” by Ann Misiaszek Sarnoff “Red Boots and Cole Haans” by Monica Buckley Price “Working Mother, Not Guilty” by Sara Nelson “Feminism Meets the Free Market” by Jane Smiley “Happy” by Anne Marie Feld “I Never Dreamed I’d Have So Many Children” by Lila Leff “On Being a Radical Feminist Stay-at-Home Mom” by Inda Schaenen “Being There” by Reshma Memon Yaqub “Russian Dolls” by Veronica Chambers “Peace and Carrots” by Carolyn Hax “Unprotected” by Natalie Smith Parra “Julia” by Anna Fels “On Balance” by Jane Juska “My Baby’s Feet Are Size 13” by Iris Krasnow

Through a series of focus group interviews and an analysis of the media and popular culture, Mothers Work examines the institution of motherhood and the arenas in which mothering occurs. MichelleNapierski-Prancl explores shared and divergent experiences, perspectives, lives, and challenges through the voices of experts on the topic of motherhood: the mothers themselves. Mothers Work analyzes how mothers feel about themselves, each other, and the culture that situates them against one another.

Single mom Rachel Gibson seriously needs a break. Between an absent ex-husband, rowdy twin boys, and running her own work-from-home business, her candle isn't just burning at both ends, it's a full-blown puddle of wax. She's the go-to girl for other entrepreneurs, handling all the tasks they dread. Social media posts? She's got it. Website updates? She's on it. Light bookkeeping? She loves it. Thank goodness Rachel’s about to get a reprieve, as her former in-laws plan to whisk her boys away for a summer of fun at the family lake house. But when her ex backs out at the last minute, she finds herself in a pickle. Even though she's drowning in to-dos, she's horrible at saying no—especially when it comes to providing some stability for her kids. Once Rachel arrives at the lake house, she struggles to keep up with work and balance the demands of family, all the while fending off pesky new feelings for her ex-brother-in-law. It’s just another messy complication added to the dumpster fire of her life. Then again, anything is possible when she's out of office... Don't miss these other laugh-out-loud rom-coms from Christina Hovland: * There's Something About Molly * April May Fall

Molly Princeton hasn’t met the right guy. Yes, she’s a dating coach, but she’s also a single mom with a rocky relationship history. She may be able to help others find love, but she doesn’t really need it in her life. Happiness doesn’t require falling in love. Winning a matchmaker competition, however, requires being part of a couple. And darn it, she needs to win this one. That’s when she sets her sights on Gavin Frank—the one man she would absolutely never fall in love with. Gavin is her nemesis, her best friend’s ex, and yeah, okay, he’s sexy as sin. He’s also off-limits. But she’s out of other options. Plus, Gavin could use a fake relationship to keep his meddling mother from setting up blind dates with every available woman in the Mile High City. There’s no way he’d fall for Molly. None. Nada. The two quickly learn there’s a thin line between hate and love, and she finds herself tipping onto the wrong side. For the first time, she doesn’t have all the answers. What the heck is she supposed to do next? Lucky for her, Gavin realizes there’s something about Molly he can’t resist... Don't miss these other laugh-out-loud rom-coms from Christina Hovland: * Rachel, Out of Office * April May Fall

Now in paperback, the provocative book that has ignited fiery debate and created a dialogue among women about the state of motherhood today. In THE MOMMY MYTH, Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels turn their 'sharp, funny, and fed-up prose' (San Diego Union Tribune) toward the cult of the new momism, a trend in Western culture that suggests that women can only achieve contentment through the perfection of mothering. Even so, the standards of this ideal remain out of reach, no matter how hard women try to 'have it all'. THE MOMMY MYTH skilfully maps the distance travelled from the days when THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE demanded more for women than keeping house and raising children, to today's not-so-subtle pressure to reverse this trend. A must-read for every woman.

The author of Spinning Fantasies: Rabbis, Gender and History deconstructs the myth of the "mommy wars" revealing that there is in fact no conflict between working mothers and stay-at-home moms and urging a new dialogue on the issue that privileges choice over polarizing rhetoric. Original.

"A stinging account of how public policy and private businesses have failed to adapt to working mothers." --Jennifer Ludden, NPR Why life is harder on American families than it's been in decades—the book that 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 that virtually sets them up to fail. The War on Moms exposes the stress put on families by an outdated system still built around the idea that women can afford not to work. It tells the truth that overworked, stressed-out American moms need to hear—that they're not alone, and they're not to blame. Exposes a lack of reasonable and flexible work opportunities as the real cause of the supposed rift between employed and stay-at-home mothers Explodes the myths about supermoms, slacker dads, opt-out moms, bootstrap moms, daycare options, and make-money-from-home scams Uncovers the widespread, brutal reality of having no paid maternity leave Offers portraits of real women—across social classes and across the country—who are struggling with issues that will strike a familiar chord with most Americans Explains why American women have it hard and why it's not going to get any easier until the country dramatically changes course The War on Moms turns the "mommy wars" debate on its head by arguing that a mother's real "enemy" is not other women, but a nationwide indifference to the cultural and economic realities facing parents and families in the United States today.

Susan Douglas first took on the media's misrepresentation of women in her funny, scathing social commentary Where the Girls Are. Now, she and Meredith Michaels, have turned a sardonic (but never jaundiced) eye toward the cult of the new momism: a trend in American culture that is causing women to feel that only through the perfection of motherhood can true contentment be found. This vision of motherhood is highly romanticized and yet its standards for success remain forever out of reach, no matter how hard women may try to "have it all." The Mommy Myth takes a provocative tour through the past thirty years of media images about mothers: the superficial achievements of the celebrity mom, the news media's sensational coverage of dangerous day care, the staging of the "mommy wars" between working mothers and stay-at-home moms, and the onslaught of values-based marketing that raises mothering standards to impossible levels, just to name a few. In concert with this messaging, the authors contend, is a conservative backwater of talking heads propagating the myth of the modern mom. This nimble assessment of how motherhood has been shaped by out-of-date mores is not about whether women should have children or not, or about whether once they have kids mothers should work or stay at home. It is about how no matter what they do or how hard they try, women will never achieve the promised nirvana of idealized mothering. Douglas and Michaels skillfully map the distance traveled from the days when The Feminine Mystique demanded more for women than the unpaid labor of keeping house and raising children, to today's not-so-subtle pressure to reverse this thirty-year trend. A must-read for every woman.