A turn-of-the-twentieth century historical novel about the impact of the first multiple birth "possesses both gravity and grace" and "the power to move us" ( New York Times).A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, this brilliantly wrought novel from acclaimed author Bobbie Ann Mason imagines the circumstances surrounding the birth of the first quintuplets in early 1900s America.Set in the apocalyptic atmosphere of the turn of the 20th ...

"You can practically smell the incense and hear the Beatles in this love letter to the counterculture of the 1960s" by the acclaimed author of In Country ( People).Ann Workman is smart but naïve, a misfit who's traveled from rural Kentucky to graduate school in the transformative years of the late 1960s. While Ann fervently seeks higher learning, she wants what all girls yearn for—a boyfriend. But not any boy. She wants the "Real Thing," to be in l...

Millions of children have been born in the United States with the help of cutting-edge reproductive technologies, much to the delight of their parents. But alarmingly, scarce attention has been paid to the lax regulations that have made the U.S. a major fertility tourism destination. And without clear protections, the unique rights and needs of the children of assisted reproduction are often ignored.This book is the first to consider the voice of the child in discussions about regul...

Literary works honoring the role of women and quilting in history—from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, and others.This collection of stories, plays, poems, and songs featuring the making of quilts—written from 1845 to the present, mainly by American women—documents women's literary history. Featuring the work of Bobbie Ann Mason, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Ric...

A treasury of both fiction and nonfiction by the award-winning author, including new material: "What a treat . . . She's one of our very best writers." —Ann Beattie, author of A Wonderful Stroke of LuckThe author of such classics as Shiloh and the memoir Clear Springs, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Kentucky-born Bobbie Ann Mason has been hailed as "a full-fledged master of the short story" by Anne Tyler and "an American original" by Jayne Ann...

Autumn Gold, inspired by true events, celebrates the indomitable courage and wisdom embodied by young biracial lawyer Vashti Warner while facing her impending death. At age thirty-four, Vashti radiates good health. An excellent litigator in a district attorney's office, she seeks to make a difference in the lives of people who are disadvantaged or feel alienated from society. Intelligent, athletic, and highly social, she sees challenges as opportunities for growth and yearns to li...

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDFromprize-winning author Bobbie Ann Mason, a brilliantly wrought novel about thefirst woman to give birth to quintuplets in early 1900s America.Setin the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1900—a time when many Americans were lookingfor signs foretelling the end of the world—Feather Crowns is thestory of a young woman who unintentionally creates a national...

In the past few decades the number of women entering graduate and professional schools has been going up and up, while the number of women reaching the top rung of the corporate and academic worlds has remained relatively stagnant. Why are so many women falling off the fast track? In this timely book, Mary Ann Mason traces the career paths of the first generation of ambitious women who started careers in academia, law, medicine, business, and the media in large numbers in the 1970s and '80...

Despite the feminist revolution of the past twenty years, most women in America are worse off today than at any time in the recent past. Magazines and television programs profile women bank executives, surgeons, and corporate lawyers, but the vast majority of women still work in relatively low-paying jobs. Women work more hours per week in the house and outside than ever before, and a paying job has become a necessity for women in most households.What went wrong? In this provocativ...

The Summer 2018 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Two out of each year’s four issues are guest-edited by prominent writers who explore different personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles; the Fall and Winter issues are staff-edited.As guest-editor Jill McCorkle writes in her introduction, “Some of the most satisfying moments in fiction are those where I might gasp with shock or surprise only to immediately see that I should have known, that in...

This book is the outcome of an idea, and the idea is very simple. It is that the best way to understand the dramatic transformation any idea can bring and to successfully bring ideas across, is to think of them as profound insights and moments of clarity often disguised as wit, captured in one single Quote.Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread faster when they carry your message in a single line or paragraph: a Quote.To feel the impact a Quote can have, here ...

The new generation of scholars differs in many ways from its predecessor of just a few decades ago. Academia once consisted largely of men in traditional single-earner families. Today, men and women fill the doctoral student ranks in nearly equal numbers and most will experience both the benefits and challenges of living in dual-income households. This generation also has new expectations and values, notably the desire for flexibility and balance between careers and other life goals. Howev...