A man, a woman, and their biological children, all of the same race, the mythical "nuclear family" has been the bedrock of American cultural, relig...
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reviews
Jan 09, 2010
Jennifer
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I really enjoyed this book. Having read a number of books on adoption, and transracial adoption specifically, I felt that this book had the right combination of research and general life experience. I tend to dislike adoption books that rely too heavily on emotions to make a point, but also am turned off by the dryness of purely sociological and statistical books. The author is both sociologist and mother of an adopted daughter. As the white mother of both white and black daughters I mostly
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Nov 05, 2009
Sarah
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Some reviews of this book by prospective adoptive parents remark that it wasn't helpful in terms of their upcoming adoption...wow. For me, this was a challenging, eye-opening, mind-expanding read. It is absolutely, at times, a scholarly discourse on consumerism, race, identity, and culture...but it also is intensely personal and even funny. I loved reading it, even though it was uncomfortable to search my own soul and ask the provocative questions Barbara Katz Rothman raises. I plan to buy
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Jun 26, 2008
April
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6/26 - On the whole it was a pretty good book which gave me lots to think about and made a good attempt and touching on a lot of the issues surrounding this topic. But I am left, having finished it, thinking that it's more of a starter book because it leaves SO much undiscussed, and so much just glossed over or mentioned; issues that need to be discussed much more. Also the author keeps trying to say she's writing as a sociologist, but the book is really way too personal, even with her caveats i
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Nov 24, 2008
Emily
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Rothman is a sociologist with an adopted daughter and as such she has a very interesting perspective on multiracial families and transracial adoption. She tackles the big issues, not offering answers, but giving the reader a sense of the complexity involved. I was very interested to know that she was also a big part of the natural childbirth movement and has written a couple of other books that look interesting to me.
Feb 20, 2008
Andi
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Rothman is a professor of sociology at Barach College, SUNY. She's written several other books on motherhood, giving birth, race, and gender. In Weaving a Family Rothman talks about her own experience as a white mother of three children; two white whom she gave birth to and one black and adopted. she moves back and forth between telling her own family's story and discussing the wider social, economic and cultural implications of mixed race families. There is a very illuminating interview with Ms
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May 19, 2010
Thorn
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First book read on Kindle for iPad, and I enjoyed both the reading experience and (definitely!) the book. I wish there could have been more and it would have gone deeper, but as an overview of issues related to adoption of black children by white adults (all straight-seeming, as far as I could recall) it was great.
Mar 01, 2009
Annie
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Good insights. Lots of interesting ideas to think about and mull over. Unfortunately, the author writes like a sociologist- ugh. But it was worth the effort to slog through her definitions and descriptions to finally read a book on interracial adoption that contains new ideas.
Jun 30, 2011
Lisa
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Although this book was interesting enough, it didn't give me practical advice to do what she recommended in the book about having her daughter stay connected in the black community. I found it much closer to a textbook than a helpful book for adoptive parents.
Aug 30, 2009
Vanessa
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This book was written by an anthropologist, and that is pretty much how it read with a little personal side notes. It was much like reading a text book. I learned some interesting things about the history of race, but not much that I felt helped me in our upcoming adoption.
Dec 24, 2007
Jamie
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This book is not especially original but there are some glimmers that make it worth reading. I found a couple of the chapters to be tangential and not especially interesting.
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