Rating: 
Summary: Biased
Review: Apparently Ms. Crittenden read a whole bunch of women's fashion magazines and assumed that they reveal what women really think about, not just what advertisers want them to think about (and buy). After this "research", she decided that husbands and rugrats are what we really need. As a happy feminist who had her tubes tied, I say, BLECH.
Rating: 
Summary: Author spends too much time telling me what I already know
Review: I thought this book would have some sage advice to me, a twentysomething woman. Unfortunately, it was the author Danielle Crittenden's venue for spewing her hatred of feminists. I was looking for answers on how to have a happy successful life and find the right man. Crittenden's answers range are typically like this: "Feminism is why you aren't happy. Feminism is why you aren't successful. Feminism is why you can't find the right man."She tells me that most women aren't happy in their jobs and that I would be much happier if I chose to be a homemaker taking care of home, husband and children. In the book she says that being a wife and mother are 'distinctly female desires'. This doesn't answer any of my questions. Who says that I want to stay home and raise children? Yes, that's an important job and I believe one parent should stay home full-time wth their children, but why not the male partner? With many of her points, I did agree with her. Such as her assertion that the 60's sexual revolution actually harmed women and society. And I do agree with her that society as a whole has failed women when advertising and media tells us we can have it all - marriage, career, children. However, the author fails to give me any solutions. Anyone can tell me what I already know - what I'm looking for are answers and she doesn't provide them.
Rating: 
Summary: Rhetoric It Is Not
Review: Danielle Crittenden does a great service to this generation of young women and men by presenting some well-researched facts and well-thought-out ideas on the subject of male-female relationship in this very readable book. As a middle-aged man, my interest in a book titled as this one was initially very low. However, I find myself very much absorbed as I started to turn the pages. Miss Crittenden took on a very complex and controversial subject in what might be called a contrarian approach, and presented some revealing facts, refreshing ideas and insightful analysis. With so much poisonous theories and commentary that built and shaped the gender battlefront, which should never have been, this book is one that invites the readers to take a rational look at what women really want from the opposite sex and the society at large. If you have a daughter (or friend) at her late teens or early twenties, you should introduce her to this book. Yes, it could be life-changing for her.
Rating: 
Summary: Why are most of the bad reviews from bitter, >29 women?
Review: I suppose it could be expected, being that modern feminism is so deeply ingrained in post-babyboomer generations. At least there is hope for younger women nearer my age. That hope lies in books such as Ms. Crittenden's and any other author whose willingness to articulate stems only from the desire for true happiness between men and women. The only way that can be accomplished is by exposing "unpopular, but obvious" truths and taking a good, hard look at ourselves. This includes both men and women.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth Can Hurt
Review: Danielle Ctittendon does a marvelous job documenting and explaining the cultural revolution initiated by her predecessors in the baby boom generation. She could have referenced more academically highbrow writings to support her observations, but that would have defeated her purpose: to connect esoteric feminist theology's affects on our culture. Unlike the previous generation of radical women who labeled all men at the cultural helm as self absorbed control freaks, she is careful to respect the people who have directed changes which have provided greater opportunities for women; while pointing out where we may have missed the mark. The lack of integrity of many beliefs that drive our culture can lead to despair. However, conversations with my daughter who is attending the University of Michigan and now this cogent, and sensitive appraisal give me hope that the next generation has more in mind than their narrow self interests: the truth. This is a must read for anyone who cares about where we are going.
Rating: 
Summary: important message badly written
Review: Such an important message! Our society is saturated with contradictions and dilemmas. Working mothers? Stay at home moms? The author desperately tries to convince us that there's simply nothing better than educating yourself, having your children in your 20s, devote a few yrs raising them at home but most importantly disregard all the views that the Feminists share on the topics. That's fine. Ironically, being a woman in my 20s I absolutely agree with everything Mrs. Crittenden is saying. There's nothing more selfish than leaving your precious 2 year old at 7 a.m for a full day of work. Day care? To ease your guilty conscience perhaps. HOWEVER, being an English teacher I'm surprised that the author dares to start her sentences with BUT (happens quite often).If you don't mind getting yourself lost in tons of endless run-on sentences and poor writing skills...
Rating:
Summary: Biased, specious, poorly researched
Review: Basically, if you are a right-wing conservative, you will probably like this book. If you are left-wing and/or feminist, you'll probably find it laughable. It's an interesting chat, not one based on facts, but on "thirty years' worth of back issues of Mademoiselle, Glamour, Vogue, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and McCall's from the stacks of the Library of Congress." What? She didn't find any back issues of Ms. magazine? Based on specious arguments, Ms. Crittenden, in her Epilogue, advises women to marry early (22 or 23) in order to be more easily impregnated, then, after the kids are in school, go to college or grad school and _then_ begin your career. Why? So the kids are happier and women won't be so guilt ridden about working or not working. Well, men, how have you felt all these years of not having a choice to stay home? Guilt ridden? Angry? Resigned? Why are these issues not discussed? Perhaps Ms. Crittenden's advice comes from the "older but wiser" school of journalism since she had her first child at the age of 30 and one subsequently. She wrote this book when her daughter was six. (I do not know who was mothering her children while she was busy writing this tome.) Feminism is about women _and_ men having a choice to live one's life in the manner one truly wishes. Working? Great! Stay-at-home Mom or Dad? Great! My words are as a 39 year old biologist who has stayed home the last 5 years to raise my daughter. That choice was right for my daughter, my husband and myself, and we were lucky enough to afford it. Many families can't. So let's speak to those real issues: women still make only 75% of what men do, materialism is rampant in the U.S., and yes, a lack of governmental support for _men_ and women who wish to spend more time with their families (please examine many European countries maternity/paternity/family leave laws). For a well researched book on children, I recommend Penelope Leach's book, Children First. For promulgating the conservative movement, I recommend the ongoing Republican National Convention.
Rating:
Summary: Neither revolutionary nor visionary.
Review: Between reading this book and Wendy Shalit's "Return to Modesty," I have to wonder if there isn't some left-wing publishing conspiracy to discredit conservatism. The acclaim that these books have received positively eludes me. Both women seem to regard men (of which I am one) as testerone-driven beasts who respond only to the simplest carrot-and-stick, why-buy-the-cow-when-you-get-the-milk-free sort of psychology. Neither book is particularly well written and both are laughably researched; Crittenden appears to have rested her arguments on anecdotes from friends in her wealthy suburb. I gave this book 2 stars because I think she makes a couple of valuable points. Yes, parents (both mothers AND fathers) need to make an investment in their children, rather than viewing marriage primarily as a way of better their own economic status. Children need to be viewed as something other than status symbols for parents, like luxury cars. But the veiled insults to men--and women who don't follow her get-married-have-babies-have-career timetable--outweigh any positive contributions this book may have to make. Speaking from my own marriage (which is about as much research as she seems to have done) my wife and I are both concerned about having enough time with our children, as well as making ends meet. (She rather glaringly omits working-class or underclass families--I guess they don't count.) She seems to forget that marrying and having children too young (and unlike her, I actually did) is not only a prescription for disaster, but virtually guarantees that the child will be raised in poverty. Having young parents or grandparents is not much consolation to a child if the parents are constantly worried about cash. I am a Christian, a conservative, and believe children are a blessing, but thirty-two is a lot better than twenty-two unless you've married a millionaire. Most of us don't have that opportunity. (Somehow, I also doubt that she wrote this entire book during her children's nursery school hours and nap time.) What bothers me the most about these books is that they attempt to present a handbook for the "correct" way to live. I have news for them: There isn't one. Some women are single by choice, just as some men are. Some younger marriages don't work out and some do. A marriage is a partnership, and how spouses allocate those responsibilities is their business. Danielle Crittenden got lucky--her lifestyle works for her. For heavens' sake, she should count her blessings and NOT wonder why the rest of us don't live the way she does.
Rating:
Summary: Reality hits the let's pretend left - again
Review: Danielle Crittenden exposes feminism for what it is, more tripefrom the let's pretend left. She hits where it hurts... This bookhas upset a reviewer or two. Well, since the mid sixties, women have been told that it is alright to give themselves to men without any of the other good stuff, marriage, home, etc., all in the name of "equality". Men have only been too happy to help. Like Dr. Walter Williams pointed out one day, "The women's movement gave men what they've always wanted. Sex without responsibility." For men to behave otherwise, like gentlemen, was "patriarchal" and "insulting". "Women could take care of themselves". Now some women are mad because men gave them what we thought they wanted. To use another worn out phrase, you can't have it both ways. I honestly believe that men are confused because of all of this nonsense that came from the sixties. Men, read this book and act like real men. Do the right thing. Listen to groups like Promise Keepers. Then you'll have a clue. The larger society will thank you.
Rating:
Summary: DUH, Most MEN don't want marriage, it ain't the women!
Review: Although there are some truths in this book about how some women strive for independence at all costs, this author is TOTALLY WRONG in saying that the majority of women over 30 are unmarried because WOMEN CHOOSE not to marry, when we live in a society where most MEN don't want to get married. I'm a 41 year-old woman, still beautiful, I'm told, but I'm not married because I never met any decent men in my 20's who WANTED to marry me. They all wanted to have sex with me, but none of them wanted marriage or a serious relationship. I've personally wanted marriage since the age of 19 and grew up believing the Prince Charming myth, but after being abused and lied to so many times by men, I became despondent about marriage, not because of my choice to make career eminent, but because the quality of men in this society is so lacking. And men in their 20's, the so called magical age when we're all supposed to get married, are the WORST! At least the men in my age range now aren't hell bent horndogs, at least some of the older men now understand that there's more to a relationship than just sex. So, please, Danielle, GET REAL! Quit blaming all the women when the death of marriage in this society is largely due to the unwillingness of young men to accept responsibility. They all want free sex -- and I do have to say that I blame the feminists and the liberated young women for giving it to them so freely -- because it's spoiled the hope of marriage for those of us who want to remain celibate until we meet the men of our dreams. Most men EXPECT you to sleep with them for a very long time or live with them before you marry them, at least in California. And if you aren't willing to sacrifice your Christian beliefs to do that, then it's very tough. The men in this society are as much if not more to blame than the women for the death of marriage. But I haven't given up hope -- I do believe marriage is possible at any age, and there is a right man for every woman. Although I would have married MUCH sooner if given the opportunity, it didn't work out that way for me, but I'm still hoping... Danielle seems to advocate marrying ANYBODY rather than staying single. A bad marriage is still WORSE than no marriage.
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