A provocative and thought-provoking book, filled with personal stories, examines the results of a nationwide survey, which shows that 40% of women earning $50,000 or more a year are childless at age forty-five, and provides an innovative way of approaching the question of motherhood vs. career for a new generation of women. 50,000 first printing. Founder of the National Parenting Association, Hewlett reports on new data showing nearly half of the most successful women in corporate America are childless, mostly contrary to their heartfelt desires. Hewlett begins with interviews of high-powered women--lawyers, journalists, scholars, doctors, businesswomen--who wanted children but ran out of time to begin their families. She reviews recent data on career women and their odds of marrying and raising a family, noting that despite promising medical technology, most women over the age of 40 aren't able to conceive and deliver healthy babies. According to the author, "most of the heartfelt struggles of the breakthrough generation have centered on the attempt to snatch a child from the jaws of menopause." Finally, she presents strategies on how young women can avoid the fate of the previous generation and what corporations can do to support women who want both careers and families. Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "(Her) findings to seem to tap into truths nobody wants to talk much about. " -- USA Today "A powerful and moving book." -- Judith Wallerstein, Ph.D., author of the Unexpected Legacy of Divorce "Hewlett reaches out to young women and shows them how to create rich, multidimensional lives." -- Cornel West, author of Race Matters "She presents strategies on how young women can avoid the fate of the previous generation." -- Booklist "Sure to ignite a lot of discussion among working women and mothers everywhere. " -- Katie Couric, The Today Show "What Ms. Hewlett found has seismic implications." -- The New York Times Sylvia Ann Hewlett is an economist and author of several books, including When the Bough Breaks -- winner of a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Prize -- and The War Against Parents, cowritten with Cornel West. She is the founder and chair of the National Parenting Association and lives in New York City with her husband and children.