The author is indeed entitled to her strong convictions. However, the thoughtful reader has no obligation to pay the author for them. I scanned this book in a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, and decided to leave it on the shelf.

Instead of this book, I recommend that you buy "The Midwife's Apprentice", read it with your daughters, and ponder what it says about plucky girls and their chances for success in any age.

It's the individual's imagination and strength of will that matter, not the biases of others. After all, Judy Mann's gender hasn't prevented her from getting her work published, has it?

The author, Judy Mann, has daughters of her own, and as they came to her with problems in their own lives, the author realized that she could not protect them from gender bias and sexism. So she set about to explore the difference. The book makes some sweeping statements, some of which seem challenging and controversial, but all the time she keeps things in persepctive, continues to tie the reader back in with the experiences of her own children. I can't say I agree with all of her suggestions, but I respect her for writing this amazing book.

Judy Mann writes from a feminist perspective, but this book is not "propaganda"--and her views about raising girls in America build on the research of many other responsible scholars. I assigned it for a class & every student (including those who declared themselves emphatically "not a feminist") found it thought provoking and worth reading.