Unsung Heroines: Single Mothers and the American Dream ‐ by Ruth Sidel

Abstract

Unsung Heroines: Single Mothers and the American Dream. Ruth Sidel. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 2006. 251 pp. ISBN 0-520-24772-8. $17.95 (paperback). In a recent minisymposium presented in this journal, Nelson (2006) explored how single mothers do as they negotiate boundaries and relationships outside idealized traditional family models. Responding to Nelson's work, Sarkisian (2006) suggested that these single mothers may be better described as doing family ambivalence, experiencing structural and internal tensions as they negotiate intimate relationships with nonresident fathers, new partners, and their mothers. Ruth Sidel's book, Unsung heroines: Single mothers and the American dream, enhances these discussions by providing an expansive vantage point for viewing and understanding the complexities of single motherhood. As Sidel outlines, single mothers experience multiple tensions in their daily lives. They desire achievement in relationships that frequently limit their autonomy and agency. They respect family traditions and culture, yet often reject marriage as a response to unplanned pregnancies. They aspire to act independently as they work to accept the help they need. Sidel interviewed New York City area single mothers (N = 50) who described their path to single modierhood as accidental or unintentional. Highlighting narratives of single mothers from varied ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, Sidel casts a wide net to illuminate how these women share common experiences across famiUes and over time. Because of the variation in ages among mothers, 23 - 89 years, and their diverse paths to single motherhood, Sidel's work is less focused on understanding single motherhood within bounded sampling categories. Instead, she offers a fluid approach, with vivid details of lives touched by disruption, loss, and resilience within the context of imagined and derailed life courses. By listening to these voices, we understand that single mothers, despite their various circumstances, share expectations and experiences with other single mothers and with women who mother in a variety of families. Through these collective stories, Sidel intends to challenge societal denigration of single mothers. Her success in this endeavor, however, is not achieved from her analysis or the multiple questions she poses in each chapter but rather emerges through the voices of Eva, Cicely, Jeri and the other women who share their experiences with her. The organization of the book centers on the themes that emerged during interviews. In the beginning, we learn how single mothers express concern and care for their children as they negotiate diminishing economic resources, severe upheavals, and redirected dreams and expectations. …