Rating: 
Summary: The Andidote to 30 years of lies by Militant Feminists!
Review: I am 53 and have bought this valuable book for my 31 year old daughter. She is the mother of a two-year old child and has chosen to stay home with her. This books affirms that choice beautifully. The author states persuasively that the best product a mother can produce is a child who is a well adjusted, loving, worthwhile human being. This book also explodes the myth of quality child care noting that the best quality care a child can have is with its mother.Another point the author makes is the blatant and destructive lie young woman have been told about sexual freedom and its often tragic after effects. Sexual promiscuity does not equate with happiness. Woman who insist on behaving sexually as men have done in the past pay a price which he never does--the loss of self respect. There are other gems in this book--one of them being the notion that a woman "gives up who she is" if she stays home and considers taking care of her family more worthwhile than working outside the home. She relates how woman who have "bought into" this theory feel cheated because they have found the marketplace to be unrewarding, unfulfilling and dull. Than you Danielle. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Lopsided and simplistic
Review: The author apparently forgets that women are full fledged adults and appears to think that selfishness is only a vice in women. And she appears to have little respect for men in that she paints them as shallow, selfish little boys who must always be humored in order for them to be loving and responsible husbands and fathers. She paints a depressing picture of marriage and parenthood, where there is little respect or intimacy between the sexes, and further fans the flames of the "us vs them" mentality. There are valid concerns here, but scapegoating the feminist movement (and indeed, as if the Feminist Movement is a unilateral group of people with identical opinions on all issues) is a lazy, simplistic approach. Complex problems have complex causes and solutions. Placing the onus of responsibility for the success of families squarely on the woman will only exacerbate the problem. Let's all work together and find solutions that respect everyone.
Rating:
Summary: CRAP!CRAP!CRAP!
Review: As a "modern woman" of 29, I sure don't believe the author's crap about why happiness is alluding me. She tries to scare us into finding a husband while we're still 20-something and sexually appealing before we become 30-something pathetic, desperate losers sitting in fertility clinics or living in sin with pathetic, desperate loser men who will never marry us.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent advice, but assumes too much
Review: Danielle Crittenden is certainly right when she says that children need a parent at home (as a man, I'm not convinced that children suffer dire consequences if it's not their mother.) Yes, there needs to be a reordering of priorities in America. But her argument--written, as it is, from the point of view who has never struggled to make ends meet--assumes a sort of "What's good for me is good for everyone" tone that is completely insufferable. Yes, younger parents are probably better than older ones, but there really are some people who are better prepared at 30 than at 25. It's true that many working parents do so for "the extras" rather than genuine economic necessity, but she seems blind to the fact that Americans have been brainwashed (in no small part by conservatives) into believing that economic success is a sign of moral virtue. Is marrying younger, better? This is from someone who married at 21: It depends on the kid (and I use that word intentionally). Her attitude toward older wmen is unrelentingly harsh, boiling down to: If you're all alone in your golden years, it's the fault of your feminism. Excuse me? Men die sooner. Marriages do not always work out, and it is not always feminism's fault. (Blame no-fault divorce, or a society that de-stigmatized love and responsibility, but please.) Danielle Crittenden is certainly on target with her comments about motherhood, but her arguments would have had much more credibility if she acknowledged that a lot of amercan families struggle financially. This book is a bit ivory-toweresque for my taste.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Courageous!
Review: It's about time someone wrote this book! It's a bitter pill to swallow, but I think Ms Crittenden's instincts have hit upon the heart of the matter. I'm sure it took a lot of courage to write this book, and I think one would need a lot of courage to face the fact that this is the modern woman's problem. The problem may vary in intensity and scope from one woman to the next, but Ms Crittenden is pointing in the right direction. I am not an American, and I have always wondered why it was so dammed difficult to maintain a relationship with American men who often seemed to be without any sense of commitment or with little sense of sacrifice whatsoever. I wondered how they could just hang around for the romance and fun, but when the going gets tough, they're gone. How could they be so self-centered? I could not understand how they could have sex with someone and pick up and go the next minute (excluding one night stands) and not realise that sex is a part of love, and love can only grow well within the bounds of a committed relationship. Sex is one issue Ms Crittenden brings up. I think a woman can accept intellectually that a person can have sex and disappear the next minute if he or she pleases. But I think deep down, each woman would be disturbed, whether she admits it or not. It's simple biology and common sense. There are so many other things the book brings up which hurt, but are true. Another irritating habit with American men - that they measure everything in a relationship...cut the cab fare in half, the groceries in half, the rent in half. I think a person should give the most he or she can afford to give within the relationship and stop measuring things! That is not love! There will be times when the woman will have to pick up the whole tab because her husband is unemployed, and times when it's easier for him to pick up the whole tab because she is home raising the kids. Must we always measure what we give? This is not love! Must we always be so rigid in our roles? People have got to loosen up and let love guide us! After reading this book, I realise that much of this is the downside of the American feminist movement. (The feminist movement in Asia deals with other issues). But I'm sure there are still some American men that still have the old values and do not fall under the categories I have described above. I am thankful I belong to a traditional culture in Asia where people have been wise enough to hang on to old values that bond human relationships and that encourage spirituality, while still building a technologically, scientifically and economically progressive society. At least when I am with my man who is from my culture, I know he is committed and he will stay unless something absolutely extreme happens. And no, I am not a plain housewife. I am woman with a career, a journalist, who has a wonderful partner in life who is also a writer like myself, and we are very happy! And I am certain (and am at peace) that he'll still be beside me when I'm old. Thank God for the wisdom of tradition! Bravo to Daneille Crittenden for writing this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Another salvo for liberation
Review: Of course feminists won't like this book: its basic message is that the me!me!me! and self-fulfilment now! anthem is really a Death March. Another salvo in the culture war that'll be remembered as a strike for freedom. I'll be giving copies of this book to every newly-wed and expectant mother I know.
Rating:
Summary: Specious analysis and smug prescriptions
Review: With friends like this, who needs a chador? Crittenden, stepdaughter of a powerful right-wing Canadian journalist/publisher, wife of the well connected son of one of Canada's most revered tv journalists, surveys the conditions of life for modern women from the olympian heights of great privilege -- and surprise, surprise -- finds it the smoking hoofprint of feminism in every direction. It would be easier to endure her specious historical analysis and smug social prescriptions, if they weren't coming from a woman able to pursue a rich, and doubtlessly fulfilling, career as a neo-conservative pundit and professional anti-feminist because her money and social standing make "having it all" possible -- for her. This book is just corpulent with self-satisfaction.
Rating:
Summary: Provocative, insightful, and a breath of fresh air
Review: Danielle Crittenden explores the touchy issues surrounding modern women thoughtfully, bolstered by tons of statistics, anecdotes of real women, and even her own personal experiences. Though Crittenden stingingly critiques the ultra-feminists of the last three decades, she does not propose women should lose the freedoms they have gained. Rather, she says, women should re-order the major events of their life in a way perhaps more suitable to "having it all." Crittenden derides the selfishness that modern feminists advocate, and encourages women to not feel ashamed of their desire to be devoted mothers. While it may appear Crittenden's views seem rather narrow, she skillfully articulates the depth and complexity of the problems facing modern women. Unfortunately, anyone who has been a working mother or has passed into their 30s without marrying or having children (in the name of independence) may feel slapped in the face by Crittenden's tone and in-your-face style. Regardless, the book is a worthwhile, provocative read. Either you'll love it or you'll hate it. It's certain one's views can only be polarized by this book.
Rating:
Summary: not very good
Review: It would be easier, as a stay at home mother, to take this book seriously if I thought the author followed her own advice. If she wrote a book and edits a paper she is working full time. I also thought the way she rips apart women throughout her book is appauling. She consistently bashes the movement (the work of those old women in the park) that provided her the opportunities she now has as a writer. The feminist movement happened so women could choose what they needed to do as individuals and be valued for it. I choose to mother full time and the author obviously does not. Without the feminist movement I would be the only one feeling fulfilled in her occupation.
Rating:
Summary: Women Are Not All The Same
Review: Crittenden must not live out there in the real world,because not all women want children,are unhappy being single,and need a man to take care of them.I would want an equal relationship and not have a man there simply to take care of me, but she makes it sound as though women should be desperately sad unless they are loved nearly to death.Having children early works for some,but in REALITY,,we all have different circumstances and lives and cannot follow her recipe for "perfection" and a "perfect" life. What is perfect for one woman could be a nightmare for another.
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