Editorial Review:

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 New York 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.
From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0

Well worth the read and price.:

I bought this book after reading an article that mentioned it. I really enjoyed the book. Each story was interesting, even those I didn't particularly agree with. Whether someone is a stay at home mom, work at home mom or mom working outside the house I think it's something they would enjoy. I found it entertaining and interesting. It's worth the price and the time to read it.

dumb, disappointing, dated:

Very excited to read this book. Very big let down. Never really addressed the normal and regular stay at home moms verses working moms with regular jobs. Don't waste your time, if you are a working mom you should not have time to read for pleasure and if you are a stay at home mom you should be reading to your kids.

Surprisingly Conciliatory:

From the title of the book, you might expect a contentious debate between the two sides of this divisive issue. And if so, you are in for a pleasant surprise. I found that, in general, the writers were trying to reach across the divide and to try and reduce the conflict. One writer put it "Women have to stop fighting among themselves - let's go back to the way it was before - and fight with the men!". While the book presents many different opinions and scenarios, I did find a number of things that stuck... more info

A Worthwhile Read:

Whether it's by luck or by chance that one becomes a mother, one thing is certain, there are a lot of choices to make in how one goes about raising them: stay-at-home...continue to work...work full-time...work part-time...work from home...it's these choices that fuel the elusive mommy wars! The most important thing you can take from this book is that there is no right or wrong choice when it comes to being a parent...the evidence supports nearly ALL arguments...kids who have a stay-at-home parent gain... more info

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