The Last Single Woman In America

A ?sassy? (USA Today), ?funny, fast-talking? (New York Daily News) ?great read? (People) that unfolds like a conversation with your bawdy best friend over a glass?or a bottle?of wine Whether she?s being greeted by the news that her brother has thrown her underwear off a Mardi Gras float, desperately trying to kick Dave Matthews out of her car before he discovers that her 6-CD changer contains six Dave Matthews CDs, or hosting a friend?s baby shower after learning that her boyfriend has impregnated another woman, Cindy Guidry writes with the ease of a born raconteur. This is the rare book that provokes both belly laughs and tears, as Guidry barrels through the obstacle course of life, refusing to see her grass as anything other than green. The Last Single Woman in America belongs on the same shelf as bestsellers like Don?t Get Too Comfortable by David Rakoff, I Was Told There?d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, and I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron.

* NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2016 SELECTION * BEST BOOKS OF 2016 SELECTION BY THE BOSTON GLOBE * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * NPR * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * The New York Times bestselling investigation into the sexual, economic, and emotional lives of women is “an informative and thought-provoking book for anyone—not just the single ladies—who want to gain a greater understanding of this pivotal moment in the history of the United States” (The New York Times Book Review). In 2009, award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister started All the Single Ladies about the twenty-first century phenomenon of the American single woman. It was the year the proportion of American women who were married dropped below fifty percent; and the median age of first marriages, which had remained between twenty and twenty-two years old for nearly a century (1890–1980), had risen dramatically to twenty-seven. But over the course of her vast research and more than a hundred interviews with academics and social scientists and prominent single women, Traister discovered a startling truth: the phenomenon of the single woman in America is not a new one. And historically, when women were given options beyond early heterosexual marriage, the results were massive social change—temperance, abolition, secondary education, and more. Today, only twenty percent of Americans are married by age twenty-nine, compared to nearly sixty percent in 1960. “An informative and thought-provoking book for anyone—not just single ladies” (The New York Times Book Review), All the Single Ladies is a remarkable portrait of contemporary American life and how we got here, through the lens of the unmarried American woman. Covering class, race, sexual orientation, and filled with vivid anecdotes from fascinating contemporary and historical figures, “we’re better off reading Rebecca Traister on women, politics, and America than pretty much anyone else” (The Boston Globe).

A research-based guide to navigating the newest dating phenomenon--"the love gap"--and a trailblazing action plan to help smart, confident, career-driven women find (and keep) their match. For a rising generation young women, the sky is the limit. Women can be anything and have everything. They are outpacing their male peers in higher education and earning the corner office at work. Smart, driven, assertive women are succeeding at just about everything they do--except romance. Why are so many men afraid to date smart women? Modern men claim to want smarts, success, and independence in romantic partners. Or so says the data collected by scientists and dating websites. If that's the case, why are so many independent, successful women winning in life, but losing in love? Journalist Jenna Birch has finally named the perplexing reason: "the love gap"--or that confusing rift between who men say they want to date and who they actually commit to. Backed by extensive data, research, in-depth interviews with experts and real-life relationship stories, The Love Gap is the first book to explore the most talked-about dating trend today. The guide also establishes a new framework for navigating modern relationships, and the tricky new gender dynamics that impact them. Women can, and should, have it all without settling.