American Mom: Motherhood, Politics, and Humble Pie - Hardcover

Blakely's raising of her two sons exactly coincided with the women's movement--a time in which the idea of what a mother should be was being challenged. In a world that was increasingly violent and chaotic--ravaged by AIDS, drug use, anorexia, and teenage suicide--she began to notice that just about all the commonly held notions of child-raising had to be rethought.

"I'd completely lost my bearings one year," she writes, "trying to follow potty training instructions from an expert who guaranteed success in three efficient days. I was stuck on step one, which stated, 'Before you begin, remove all stubbornness from the child.'"

Learning to question the advice of experts was just the beginning. After twenty years of raising boys, after years of teaching and writing about family and women's issues, Blakely clearly sees the connection between the personal and the political.

If motherhood kept her occupied with the most humbling details of life, it also delivered profound insights. "It is being someone's mother that makes us personalize every issue from sexual harassment to toxic waste," a friend reminded her. For so many years women have been dismissed for taking things personally--but maybe that's exactly how things whould be taken, she concludes.

In American Mom, Mary kay Blakely begins to reconcile the apron-clad, cookie-baking myth of motherhood with the realities of women's lives. The personal stories, from someone who has been in the trenches of motherhood herself, also chronicle the tumultuous social and political events of our times. With insight and irreverence, Blakely makes clear why she chose to break the rules when the rules no longer fit.

"I think I have read every word Mary Kay Blakely has ever written--even when I absolutely did not have time to do it. She is too powerful a storyteller to resist. American Mom is no exception. If you can't find your life in hers, you've been living abroad." --Phyllis Theroux

"From small town to big city, from traditional marriage to self-discovery, from single motherhood to creative worker, from illness to rebirth--all these are personal journeys Blakely has taken and written about with insight, humor, and a larger understanding that light the path around her." --Gloria Steinem

"Mary Kay Blakely's writing is warm, witty, and loving--and celebratory of real modern family life." --Susan Faludi