This Is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto

This is a MUST READ for working moms or moms considering returning to the workforce. Within the first 30 pages of this book, so many of my "issues" with being a working mom had been addressed and I was already feeling less guilt about having my kids in daycare while I continue with my career. This book is inspiring, sometimes funny, and incredibly straight-forward and practical. I just wish I'd read it years ago!!

Terrific book. I gave it 4 stars, not 5, because you have to be especially talented or overachieving to get a break in the workplace--most of us are ordinary, probably won't make it to VP, etc., in which case you may find you're not valuable enough to the company to get the kinds of breaks the author describes. Her examples are overwhelmingly women who are already in power positions, and that doesn't help most of us. Having said that, the specific concepts are a great help, especially in generating more ideas. You do find that the unstated thesis is "Right now, any help women need is going to have come from more already overworked women--a few men will help, but in this climate it's pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps time." This is accurate to the workplaces I've observed and within which I've worked. Specific anecdotes about what other women have done, combined with statistics and financial data, are worth their weight in gold. BE AWARE that this is the same book as "This is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto." At one point these two books were on sale to buy as a pair, which I did before discovering they're the same book. Changing the title slightly to give the impression that they're different but complementary books, and then selling them together, leaves a poor impression of integrity. Not sure whose. Doubtful it's the author, who probably doesn't make those publishing decisions.