Maria Laurino reads from Old World Daughter, New World Mother: An Education in Love and Freedom (W.W. Norton, 2009)

Few books have discussed feminism through the prism of Italian-American identity. In Old World Daughter, New World Mother, Maria Laurino seeks to reconcile her upbringing in an Italian-American home, where sacrifice was the ideal of motherhood, with her desire to start a family while pursuing a career. Laurino merges the personal and the analytical, combining lived experience, research, and reporting on contemporary work-family issues. With a passionate literary voice, she reveals how she learned from “Old World” and “New World” perspectives, negotiating a “sustainable mix of self and selflessness.”