Books about Surrendered from Amazon.com

Self-proclaimed "feminist and former shrew" Laura Doyle sets forth a whopper of a game plan for establishing profound intimacy in one's marriage Building on the gender stereotypes defined by bestselling author John Gray (Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus), Doyle seeks to heal the overworked, underappreciated wife who snarls at her mate's every thought or action. Her message to these smart, self-sufficient types: check the nitpicking, the unsolicited opinions, and--egads!--the finances at the marital door (although she says it's still okay to wield control at work). Many women will find such advice archaic and offensive; some will simply laugh off this credential-free anachronism when they receive the book as a bridal-shower gag gift. Still others, identifying with Doyle's profile of a controlling wife, will be curious enough to dabble in her proposed art of "surrendering."

According to Doyle, the wife who chooses to surrender must learn to take care of herself first, overcome the desire to have more power, and abandon the myth of equality. Delving into the personal tales and sisterly advice shared within each chapter's pages, surrendering wives will further note the need to master unsavory phrases like "I can't," and "Whatever you think"--tough to swallow for a generation of women who value their own opinions. While she fully acknowledges that a few bills will go unpaid and a few deadlines or freeway exits will occasionally be missed, she also insists that surrendered wives will encounter less worry and fear, more money, and better sex. Hey, "Whatever you think...." --Liane Thomas.
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In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Ann Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than a hundred women, as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail..
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Cast your fears aside, ladies: in this case, "surrendered" doesn't mean "doormat"--which is not to say that The Surrendered Single might not raise a few eyebrows Laura Doyle (The Surrendered Wife) has some pretty insistent basics for women on the dating circuit that may not always sit well with modern feminists Don't ask him out? Throw out your mental checklist of what you want from a mate? Smile openly at every man you pass on the street? Expect that he'll pay for dinner?

Yep. And according to those who have already surrendered, this old-school stuff works. The book is easy to read; entertaining dating stories are mixed with lots of bullet-pointed lists focused on self-esteem ("good self care is attractive") and myth debunking ("no one respects flirtatious women") that range from truly helpful to slightly simplistic.

Following Doyle's techniques may require a fair amount of modification on your part, but her ideas are aimed at opening yourself up to a loving, stable relationship, rather than simply angling for that ring on your finger from whatever deer you've caught in your matrimonial headlights. If you think it's time to implement some changes in your dating routine, you may find just what you need by "surrendering." --Jill Lightner.
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A powerful and groundbreaking revelation of the secret history of the 1.5 million women who surrendered children for adoption in the several decades before Roe v. Wade

In this deeply moving work, Ann Fessler brings to light the lives of hundreds of thousands of young single American women forced to give up their newborn children in the years following World War II and before Roe v. Wade. The Girls Who Went Away tells a story not of wild and carefree sexual liberation, but rather of a devastating double standard that has had punishing long-term effects on these women and on the children they gave up for adoption. Based on Fessler's groundbreaking interviews, it brings to brilliant life these women's voices and the spirit of the time, allowing each to share her own experience in gripping and intimate detail. Today, when the future of the Roe decision and women's reproductive rights stand squarely at the front of a divisive national debate, Fessler brings to the fore a long-overlooked history of single women in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies.

In 2002, Fessler, an adoptee herself, traveled the country interviewing women willing to speak publicly about why they relinquished their children. Researching archival records and the political and social climate of the time, she uncovered a story of three decades of women who, under enormous social and family pressure, were coerced or outright forced to give their babies up for adoption. Fessler deftly describes the impossible position in which these women found themselves: as a sexual revolution heated up in the postwar years, birth control was tightly restricted, and abortion proved prohibitively expensive or life endangering. At the same time, a postwar economic boom brought millions of American families into the middle class, exerting its own pressures to conform to a model of family perfection. Caught in the middle, single pregnant women were shunned by family and friends, evicted from schools, sent away to maternity homes to have their children alone, and often treated with cold contempt by doctors, nurses, and clergy.

The majority of the women Fessler interviewed have never spoken of their experiences, and most have been haunted by grief and shame their entire adult lives. A searing and important look into a long-overlooked social history, The Girls Who Went Away is their story..
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Surrendered Child is Karen Salyer McElmurray's raw, poignant account of her journey from her teen years, when she put her newborn child up for adoption, to adulthood and a desperate search for the son she never knew. In a patchwork narrative interwoven with dark memories from her childhood, McElmurray deftly treads where few dare--into a gritty, honest exploration of the loss a birth mother experiences. With unflinching honesty, McElmurray recounts both the painful surrendering and the surprise rediscovery of her son, and juxtaposes that story with a portrayal of her own mother, who could not provide the love she needed. The dramatic result is a tale of birthright lost and found--and an exploration of the meaning of motherhood itself.

A National Book Critics Circle Notable Book

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Painstakingly researched with an eye for detail, They Never Surrendered: The Lakota Sioux Band That Stayed in Canada by Ron Papandrea covers a topic long neglected in the United States and Canada. After the defeat of General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in the Great Sioux War of 1876, Sitting Bull and thousands of Lakota Sioux escaped the American army by going to Canada. Crazy Horse was killed while in American custody and many of his followers also went to Canada. The disappearance of the buffalo on the Canadian plains forced most of the Lakota Sioux in Canada to return to the United States within five years; they surrendered and settled on American reservations. More than 250 brave souls remained in Canada and never surrendered. This is their story..
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