In the last decade the topic of motherhood has emerged as a distinct and established field of scholarly inquiry. A cursory review of motherhood research reveals that hundreds of scholarly articles have been published on almost every motherhood theme imaginable. The first ever on the topic, this Encyclopedia of Motherhood helps to both demarcate motherhood as a scholarly field and an academic discipline and to direct its future development. The encyclopedia...

"In this relatable, charming book, Ree unveils real goings-on in the Drummond house and around the ranch. In stories brimming with the lively wit and humor found in her cookbooks and her bestselling love story, The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, Ree pulls back the curtain and shares her experiences with childbirth, wildlife, isolation, teenagers, in-laws, and a twenty-five-year marriage to a cowboy/rancher." -- Amazon.com. The Food...

It's 2008, and the rise of Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He's eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to, and abandoned, when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she'd never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past. Returning...

"In this powerful debut novel inspired by true stories, three women's lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother's love, and a secret network of people fighting for the right to choose. 2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion...

"The rules of summer book club are simple: No sad books. No pressure. Yes, wine! Besties Laurel and Paris are excited to welcome Cassie to the group. This year, the book club is all about fill-your-heart reads. Since Laurel's divorce, she feels like the Worst Mom Ever. Cassie has an unfortunate habit of falling for ridiculous man-boys. Paris is still reeling after chasing off the only man brave and foolish enough to marry her. Inspired by the heroines...

Xinran has written one of the most powerful accounts of the lives of Chinese women. She has gained entrance to the most pained, secret chambers in the hearts of Chinese mothers -- students, successful businesswomen, midwives, peasants -- who, whether as a consequence of the single-child policy, destructive age-old traditions, or hideous economic necessity, have given up their daughters. Xinran beautifully portrays the "extra-birth guerrillas" who...

"Motherload's core arguments are that security-seeking is the driving force of intensive mothering and that high expectation of security in the mother-child relationship--i.e. the motherload--is what makes mothering so difficult today. It further argues that the motherload, carried with every good intention to produce security through this one uniquely powerful relationship, can unintentionally undermine families' security. Strategies of producing...

Doctors and professors of reproductive medicine Fauser and Devroey relay their knowledge of this field's many advances since the first live in-vitro fertilization birth in 1978. With reasoned, rational discussion, the authors review the technology, ethical dilemmas, and statistical results of many current practices, providing data from around the world. Looking to the future, they address controversial topics including cloning, pregnancy in older...