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University of California Press
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On Our Own

Unmarried Motherhood in America
by Melissa Ludtke (Author)
Paperback
Price: $33.95 / £29.00
Publication Date: Mar 1999
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 483
ISBN: 9780520218307
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 1 graph
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About the Book

The U.S. has experienced a dramatic increase in births to unmarried women in recent decades—from 4% of births in 1950, with most of the babies then adopted, to more than 30% today. Melissa Ludtke's book is the only in-depth analysis of this radical change in family formation to compare and contrast the lives of these mothers of varying ages and economic circumstances.

About the Author

Melissa Ludtke is a journalist. While researching and writing On Our Own she had fellowships at Harvard, Radcliffe, and the Columbia School of Journalism.

Table of Contents

Prologue

1. My Story: Decision-making About Unmarried Motherhood 
2. Unmarried Motherhood: A Half-Century of Change 
3. Having a Baby: Unmarried Adolescent Mothers 
4. Having a Baby: Unmarried Older Mothers 
5. Raising Children: Unmarried Adolescent Mothers 
6. Raising Children: Unmarried Older Mothers 
7. Where's Daddy? Unmarried Adolescent Mothers 
8. Where's Daddy? Unmarried Okler Mothers 
9. Unmarried Mothers: Who We Are and Where We're Headed 

Afterword 
Acknowledgments 
Bibliography 
Index

Reviews

"Ludtke brings the voices of women having children on their own into a public debate from which these voices have been conspicuously absent. Interweaving their voices with her own savvy and intuitive commentary, she has written a vitally important book."—Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice