Edelman, Hope:
Motherless Daughters
, New York: Dell Publishing, 1994.
Based on interviews with hundreds of mother-loss survivors, and chronicling the author’s own brave search for healing, this life-affirming book reveals the various stages of mother-loss at every age, and tells what the unmothered woman can do to reclaim her autonomy and restore her connections to the family motherline.
Estes, Clarissa, Pinkola:
Women Who Run With The Wolves
, New York: Ballantine Books, 1995.
The author believes that within every woman there lives a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Although she represents the instinctual nature of women, she is endangered by society’s attempt to “civilize” us into rigid roles.
Herrenstein, Richard, et. al.:
The Bell Curve
, New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1994.
This work describes the state of scientific knowledge about questions that have been on people’s minds for years; Issues which have been considered too sensitive to talk about openly. Some of the trends discussed are pertinent to this unit in that they address women’s issues with relation to IQ, crime and fertility.
L’Engle, Madeleine:
Mothers and Daughters
, Wheaton, Ill. Harold Shaw Publishers, 1997.
A Mother-Daughter collaboration, this book is more poetry than prose. It is a bit of a coffee-table book, yet by their inclusion the brief histories therein tell a tale of what some mother-daughter teams wish to be remembered by.
Wexler, Jane and Lauren Cowen:
Daughters And Mothers
, Philadelphia: Running Press, 1997.
The special relationship between mothers and daughters is celebrated with original essays the striking photographs of generations of women of all ages and backgrounds.
Wesllesly College Center For Research on Women:
How Schools Shortchange Girls
, New York: Marlowe and Company, 1995.
No unit of this genre would be complete without including this work. It stands as a wake-up call to parents, teachers, and policymakers to the problem of pervasive gender bias in America’s schools. As the greatest single influence in their daughters lives mothers need to call upon themselves to advocate for school equity for their girls. This work provides a helpful direction for change.