If parenting is making Americans unhappy, if it’s impossible to "have it all," if people don’t have the economic, social, or political structures needed to support parenting, then why do it?


In Why Have Kids?, Jessica Valenti asks this controversial—but necessary—question. Through on-the-ground reporting, new scientific studies, and her own burgeoning motherhood, Valenti offers an in-depth exposé of the world of having (and not having) children. She cites shocking statistics about parental happiness and child care, new science that’s shaking up the parent-advice industry, and stories from a generation of parents who are finding out that having kids isn’t all they thought it would be.


Why Have Kids? presents startling new material that will change the way you think about the age-old questions of children, parenting, and happiness.