To Hell with All That

Caitlin Flanagan, a hilarious and provocative social critic, compares the rituals and experiences that shaped the fifties housewife with those that have forged the modern woman and arrives at some surprising conclusions. In her signature prose - brightly funny and brutally honest - Flanagan examines everything from the contemporary white-wedding craze to the epidemic of undersexed marriages. Whether she is reporting on the mommy wars, the anti- clutter movement, America's new nanny culture or the sexless long-term marriage, her book reveals both the high cost women pay for devoting themselves to the people they love and also the matchless rewards that come from that sacrifice. 'Those repressed and much pitted 1950s wives -their sexless college years! Their boorish husbands, who couldn't locate the clitoris with a flashlight and a copy of Gray's Anatomy! - were apparently getting a lot more action than many of today's most liberated and sexually experienced married women'