Mid-Century Moderns and Our Mishegas With Takes from the Twenty First Madness: A Look at the Way We Were Vs How Today’s Moderns

A (mostly) light-hearted "sociological study" of decades-old dilemmas about American lifestyles and how we resolved them. Or not. In the manner of Nora Ephron, Ellen Zelda Kessner shares, with humor and insight, her reflections and those of contributors Judi Culbertson and Sally Wendkos Olds, on COME-AND-GO FASHIONS in: Natural Childbirth; Teaching While Pregnant; Breastfeeding Babies; Eclectic Home Decorating; Girl Scout Cookies; Stay-at-Home Mommying; Having Kittens; Female Orgasms; Diversifying the Suburbs. In MID-CENTURY MODERNS & OUR MISHEGAS (MADNESS), Kessner also relates her often-hilarious adventures with TRY-ON CAREERS & PASTIMES: Selling Real Estate; Substitute Teaching; Writing Faux-True Confessions; Acting in Little Theatre; Writing PTA Plays; Founding a Feminist Family Theatre. Enjoy samplings of Mid-Century Madness--- and what follows---in chapters like: I WAS A NATURAL CHILDBIRTH DROP-OUT; TO BREAST FEED? OR DO THE NATURAL THING-GIVE THE BABY A BOTTLE?; WHAT DO WOMEN WANT? THE GREAT ORGASM KERFUFFLE; PERILS OF A REAL ESTATE PUSHER; GUILTY SECRETS-THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A TRUE CONFESSIONS WRITER; Plus the thought -provoking "Look who's coming to live next door to you?" story,"SPLIT FOR SALE, DESIRABLE NEIGHBORHOOD. . ."

Ellen Zelda Kessner’s lifestyle articles, both humorous and investigative, have appeared in many newspapers and national magazines, including Redbook, Woman’s Day and Cosmopolitan. She has co-authored/produced several musical plays about great women for New York City/metropolitan area audiences. She has written two non-fiction books: ＂AFTER THE VIOLENCE: Seeking My Daughter, Myself, and the Child She Left Behind,＂ a true crime memoir, and ＂SAVING BEAUTY FROM THE BEAST--How to Protect Your Daughter From an Unhealthy Relationship,＂ co-authored with Vicki Crompton (Little, Brown) which won the 2003 BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE award in the category of Relationships. Judi Culberton contributed to MID-CENTURY MODERNS, the essay, ＂You’re What. . . Pregnant? Leave. Now!＂ Her articles have appeared in Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, and the New York Times, and she is the author of eleven books. Her latest, a mystery--＂A Novel Death＂--was published by Avalon in June 2011. Sally Wendkos Olds contributed to MID-CENTURY MODERNS, the essay, ＂To Breast Feed? Or Do the Natural Thing--Give the Baby a Bottle?＂ She has written extensively about intimate relationships, personal growth, and developmental issues throughout the life cycle, and won national awards for both her book and magazine writing. In addition to her classic, ＂The Complete Book of Breastfeeding,＂ first published in l972 and revised for its fourth edition in 2010, she is the author of ten other books, including ＂Super Granny: Great Stuff to Do with Your Grandkids.＂ She is the mother of three breastfed daughters and the grandmother of five breastfed grandchildren.