{"product_id":"myths-of-motherhood-isbn-9780140246834","title":"Myths of Motherhood","description":"This groundbreaking 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, psychologist Shari L. Thurer 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, \u003cb\u003eThe Myths of Motherhood \u003c\/b\u003edoes nothing less than recast our conception of good mothering.Introduction\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1. Mothering - The Old-Fashioned Way\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat Becomes a Legend Most?\u003cbr\u003eCavemother: Old Stone Age Mom\u003cbr\u003eThe Divine Womb: New Stone Age Mom\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2. History Begins, Herstory Ends\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Decline and Fall of the Great Mother\u003cbr\u003eThe Cradle in the Cradle: Sumerian Mom\u003cbr\u003eHonored Tombs, Honored Wombs: Ancient Egyptian Mom\u003cbr\u003eThe Abyss: Phoenician Mom\u003cbr\u003eA Mother Love Story: Ancient Hebrew Mom\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e3. The Sublime and the Ridiculous: Classical Mom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Secret History\u003cbr\u003eSexual Politics in Ancient Greece\u003cbr\u003eWhere's Momma? Maternal Images\u003cbr\u003eShe Loved Them, She Loved Them Not: Maternal Reality\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e4. Sacred and Profane Callings: Medieval Mom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMadonna Fever, the Original Version\u003cbr\u003eDoes She Love Me?\u003cbr\u003eMedieval Mixed Messages\u003cbr\u003eDevil or Angel: Images of the Child\u003cbr\u003eMother Superior, Mother Inferior: Maternal Images\u003cbr\u003eFacts of Life: Maternal Reality\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e5. Father Knows Best: Early Modern Mom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Obedient Mom: 1500-1700\u003cbr\u003eDown and Out: Maternal Images\u003cbr\u003eSparing the Rod: Maternal Reality\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e6. The Exaltation of Mother: Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century Mom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Devil's Consort to \"Angel of the House\"\u003cbr\u003eThe Romantic Tableau: Maternal Images in the Eighteenth Century\u003cbr\u003eThe Calm Before the Repressive Storm: Maternal Reality in the Eighteenth Century\u003cbr\u003eUpstairs, Downstairs: Maternal Images in the Nineteenth Century\u003cbr\u003eThe Repressive Storm: Maternal Reality in the Nineteenth Century\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e7. Fall from Grace: Twentieth-Century Mom\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScientific Mom: 1900-1940\u003cbr\u003eEmpathic Mom: 1940-1980\u003cbr\u003eReinventing the Myth: 1980-1990s\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eIndex\u003c\/p\u003e“A refreshing, eye-opening look at the history of motherhood.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A comprehensive treatment of motherhood has been long overdue, and this fits the bill, in spades.”\u003cbr\u003e —Susan Brownmiller, author of \u003cb\u003eAgainst Our Will \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003eFemininity\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘A positive, sensible, and readable history directed to women in the throes of the experience . . . designed to reinforce Ms. Thurer’s assertion that the modern mother cannot possibly do worse than her predecessors.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A history from the point of view of mothers and children is a rarity. And this one is rich, far-reaching, and fierce, as well as clever and accessible. From the Ancient Goddess to the Holy Virgin to the Devouring Mother to the Doctor Spock mother and now the Activist Mother, we discover, despite the myths, that she was the childbearer and rearer and was usually good enough not to have suffered the slings and arrows of misogyny.”\u003cbr\u003e —E. M. Broner, author of \u003cb\u003eA Weave of Women \u003c\/b\u003eand \u003cb\u003eThe Telling\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Psychologist Shari L. Thurer unmasks the mythmakers . . . but [her] own advice is the most sound. The only good mother is a woman content with herself. So let’s throw out our unattainable ideals about mothering and worry first about the status of women!”\u003cbr\u003e—Ellen Chesler, author of \u003cb\u003eWomen of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cb\u003eThe Myths of Motherhood \u003c\/b\u003eis an across-the-board, much-needed tribute to the well-being of the at-home mother that looks honestly at her frustrations, concerns and joys.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A fascinating history of 30,000 years of mothering.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eNew Woman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Anyone interested in societal attitudes toward Mom, Dad and the kids, fromthe Stone Age on, will be fascinated.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eThe Seattle Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Thurer effectively demonstrates how transient any one view of mothering is.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“An enjoyable and highly informative account of the mostly lamentable fate of the institution of American motherhood . . . intriguing and consciousness raising.”\u003cbr\u003e—Sophie Freud, MSW, Ph.D. author of \u003cb\u003eMy Three Mothers \u0026amp; Other Passions\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Shari Thurer gives us a deeply satisfying book. While the information in it excites the brain, the insights soothe at the heart. I am giving copies of this book to my children, my parents, my students, my friends, and, in ultimate affirmation, myself.”\u003cbr\u003e—Faye J. Crosby, author of \u003cb\u003eJuggling: The Unexpected Advantages of Balancing Career and Home for Women and Their Families\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eShari L. Thurer\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor at Boston University and a psychoanalytically trained psychologist with a private practice.  She has published widely in scholarly journals on the concept of the good mother.  She lives with her husband and daughter in Boston.","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304989839589,"sku":"NP9780140246834","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780140246834.jpg?v=1767733427","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/myths-of-motherhood-isbn-9780140246834","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}