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Ready: why women are embracing the new later motherhood
Reviews
“Helpfully, Gregory debunks a lot of the hysterical statistics surrounding infertility and dispenses the wealth of pregnancy and adoption offerings with equanimity and good cheer.”
—Publishers Weekly
what people are saying
“Ready: Why Women are Embracing the New Later Motherhood, by Elizabeth Gregory, is the first book I’ve seen to explore the positive effects of women becoming mothers at 35 and beyond. For starters, a book that focuses on the positive effects of women’s decisions about their working and family lives deserves a rousing welcome.
... Gregory is an academic, but you wouldn’t know it from her prose, which is lively, accessible and lucid. She intersperses statistics and commentary about women’s changing relation to work with snapshots that illuminate issues such as work/home balance, economics, fertility, adoption, changing family structures, only children.”
—Jo Keroes, Mommytrackd.com • READ Full REview and others
“Elizabeth Gregory sheds light on an aspect of the contemporary family experience that has not been examined in great detail until now: the new later motherhood phenomenon. Many of the families Elizabeth Gregory examines are formed the old-fashioned way, but a growing number are the result of adoption and reproductive technologies. Finally, we have a wonderful book that provides us with a thoughtful and thorough examination of motherhood and family life in the 21st century.”
—Adam Pertman, author of Adoption Nation
“Elizabeth Gregory has discovered the real truth behind all the false alarms over delayed motherhood: that older mothers tend to be very happy with their decision to have children later in life. A positive, optimistic message for women: you can wait until you are ready to be a good parent.”
—Ann Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood
“With clarity, compassion, and common sense, Elizabeth Gregory takes us on a captivating tour of the changing landscape of 21st-century motherhood. She offers a forceful and compelling challenge to those who view contemporary motherhood in ferociously negative terms, as an unholy blend of smother love, over-parenting, and unremitting anxiety and guilt. An insightful and extraordinarily informative look at how today’s highly accomplished women balance the conflicting demands of prolonged professional training, high-pressure careers, and the desire to raise children.”
—Steven Mintz, author of Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood
“In this beautifully written and well researched book, Elizabeth Gregory explores contemporary transformations in what it means to be a mother, chronicling the exponential growth in the number of women over 35 seeking to conceive or adopt children. Without ignoring the risks, Gregory reviews the advantages to mothers of living on their own terms and the benefits to children of being reared by more experienced, settled and committed individuals, as well as the various options open to women who postpone child-rearing.”
—Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species
For more reviews, articles and press coverage of the book, Ready, visit the News & Media page.
About this book • Read an excerpt • read reviews • fast facts