Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness

Jessica Valenti

Sep 2012 · Brilliance Audio · Narrated by Emily Beresford

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5 hr 16 min

Unabridged

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About this audiobook

A provocative and intimate exploration of modern parenthood from a writer named “a gutsy young third-wave feminist” by the New York Times.

If parenting is making Americans unhappy, if it’s impossible to “have it all,” if people don’t have the economic, social, or political structures needed to support parenting, then why do it?

In Why Have Kids?, Valenti explores these controversial questions through on-the-ground reporting, startling new research, and her own unique experiences as a mom. She moves beyond the black and white “mommy wars” over natural parenting, discipline, and work-life balance to explore a more nuanced reality: one filled with ambivalence, joy, guilt, and exhaustion. A must-read for parents as well as those considering starting a family, Why Have Kids? is an explosive addition to the conversation about modern parenthood.

A provocative and intimate exploration of modern parenthood from a writer named “a gutsy young third-wave feminist” by the New York Times. If parenting is making Americans unhappy, if it’s impossible to “have it all,” if people don’t have the economic, social, or political structures needed to su...

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About the author

Jessica Valenti is the author of three previous books, including The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women. She is also the founder of Feministing.com, which the Columbia Journalism Review called "head and shoulders above almost any writing on women's issues in mainstream media." Jessica -- called one of the top 100 inspiring women in the world by the Guardian -- speaks at universities and organizations in the U.S. and abroad about feminism, activism, and media. She lives with her family in Boston, but remains a New Yorker at heart.

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