"Headlong Flight from Your Mother's Life"

"The essence of Stansell's argument is that American feminism has proceeded in a lurching and uneven series of stages, alternating between periods of ascendancy for mothers and daughters. Nonetheless, even during times like the 1950s, when it seemed that mothers were securely entrenched, feminism continued to forge ahead, often in quieter ways but with a clear record of achievement nonetheless. Mothers and daughters agree about one facet of the 'feminist promise': it is the struggle to achieve justice and equality in the public sphere. Daughters, however, insist rebelliously that this 'promise' cannot be fulfilled without sweeping changes in the domestic realm that are not just strategic but fundamental matters of justice as well. Mothers and daughters differ about strategies but also, more profoundly, about goals."

Martha C. Nussbaum in The Nation reviews Christine Stansell's The Feminist Promise.