About this title: The feminist and author of such books as THE BEAUTY MYTH and FIRE WITH FIRE reflects on pregnancy and motherhood in American culture. Reflecting on her own pregnancy, and sharing the thoughts of other first-time mothers, Wolf explores how and why pregnancy is a sometimes difficult emotional experience for many women. Also discussed is how the medical industry fails to provide women with much of the emotional support they need during pregnancy, and how businesses often make few concessions for new families.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780385497459ISBN:0385497458
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780385493024ISBN:0385493029
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780385493024ISBN:0385493029
Description: Good in Good jacket. 115-W-Add Old grease pencil price on cover--generally removable with spray cleaner. Books rated "Good" may have some notes, underlining, or highlighting. These books also may contain the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription, or may be library discards. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. 0385493029 clean inside-cover shows minor wear, tight spine, dust jacket books may have some minor wearhouse damage. Stickers may be on spine or covers. read more
"I read this book when I was expecting my first child, and it blew me away, and was a large part of the reason I was set of having a natural childbirth. It's a book that makes you think about a lot of what's wrong with how expecting mothers are cared for in America; however, not all birthing experiences are created equal, so I have learned after going through it firsthand. So I would just caution the reader of Misconceptions to read other books on this subject and form an opinion based on a variety of perspectives, rather than just this one."
"My sister was reading this book when I visited her over Christmas and my curiosity got the best of me so I picked it up recently. It will tell you most everything you don't want to know, but probably should know, about pregnancy, labor, and becoming a parent. The book contains a lot of shocking information about the medical establishment, rates of c-section, episiotomies, etc. Given that Naomi Wolf wrote this after a terrible experience with her delivery, I took this with a grain of salt. That said, the book is pretty well-balanced and Wolf recognizes that painkillers and c-sections are important to women and healthy babies and should be available, if necessary, to anyone who needs them.
I thought that the sections on child-rearing and nursing were also interesting. Her reflections on race and class, while compelling, struck me as mere afterthoughts, sort of a necessary shout-out in a book otherwise devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a white, upper-class, suburban feminist."
"excellent book on the emotional journey of being pregnant, the social, the societal - it addresses things beyond the physical part of giving birth and how your life changes. It felt like the first book that didn't insult my intelligence and offered many real-life honest opinions and truths about what happens when we become mothers.
highly recommended to anyone about to have a child, especially perhaps like myself who has been single and on my own until my mid thirties... how much there is to mourn and grieve in the type of deaths that must occur to make space for this new life within your own."
"For the first 264 pages I was ready to give this book 5 enthusiastic stars. Wolf intertwines her personal experiences with careful research into the state of the maternal health care in the U.S. I really related to the personal experiences she relates: a traumatic c-section, mild PPD, the strange mixture of confusion and bliss that accompany the arrival of a new baby. I especially "enjoyed" her analysis of our hospital system that offers very few choices to laboring women, and that commonly ignores what is best for mothers and babies in the name of convenience and profit. I also appreciated her honest assessment of the wide range of emotions that come along with new motherhood, and her passionate advocacy for society to treat mothering as a profession and better accommodate the needs of mothers and children. I agree with her: New mothers need more support, less isolation, and lots more understanding.
Then came the chapter on breastfeeding, which dropped my overall rating down to 3 stars (and if I could rate it on a chapter-by-chapter basis, I'd give this particular chapter 0 stars). I was so incredibly disappointed with her very brief treatment of breastfeeding where she basically says "eh, breastfeeding's good and all, but do whatever you want." The rest of the book is such a vehement defense of everyday women who have to grapple with profit-driven hospitals and litigation-paranoid doctors in order to have their ideal birth experiences...I would have expected her to take up the cause and defend breastfeeding as a feminist issue, too. Instead, she refers to La Leche League as "lactation fascists" and in one fell swoop, undermines the work that ordinary women are doing to promote breastfeeding as the healthiest beginning for babies (a fact that is literally undisputed in scientific data). Where is the mention of the multi-billion dollar formula industry that lobbies and sends free samples and does everything in their power to make breastfeeding seem too difficult, too time-consuming, too socially-uncomfortable? But no, in Wolf's opinion, the women who speak loudly trying to create a viable voice in opposition to this profit-driven industry (and who dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to helping women learn to breastfeed when challenges arise) are "fascists." Give me a break. Wolf loves Ina May Gaskin but doesn't like lactivists? How is this possible?? Anyway, she gives literally one paragraph to addressing the proven health benefits of breastfeeding for babies, doesn't even mention the myriad health benefits for mothers, and sails on to say that it is "unrealistic" to expect many American mothers to breastfeed.
As you can tell, I ended the book with negative feelings. The breastfeeding "chapter" (really just a few pages) was toward the end of the book, and she never got me back after that. Which is too bad; I vaguely remember now that I really enjoyed the majority of the book. I would recommend this book up to about page 264!"
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