Why There Are No Good Men Left - by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead (Paperback)

About the Book

The author of "The Divorce Culture" pens a controversial report on why women are holding out on marriage and finding it hard to meet Mr. Right when they're ready.

Book Synopsis

A hard-hitting, groundbreaking exploration of the new mating conditions that are changing the face of love, commitment, and marriage as we know it.

A double revolution is at work in modern American love: A revolution in higher education has created the most professionally accomplished and independent generation of young women in history, and a revolution in mating has created a prolonged and perplexing search for Mr. Right. Based on extensive research and interviews, Why There Are No Good Men Left explores the romantic plight of this high-status woman with findings that are sure to rouse debate.

Cultural historian, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead documents the new social climate in which the demands of work, the epidemic of cohabitation, the disappearance of courtship, and the exacting standards of educated women are leading them to stay single longer-and to find the search for a mate even harder when the time is right. From the frontlines of college, where dating is dead, to the trenches of corporate solitude, Whitehead reports on a wholesale shift that has stacked the marriage deck against the best and brightest women.

The thirty-something, perplexed single woman is today's new cultural icon. Why There Are No Good Men Left is the first book to take a serious approach to analyzing where she came from and to ask how she can realize her dreams of lasting love.

Review Quotes

"There are plenty of good men left, of course, but Whitehead deftly illustrates why women in my generation often believe otherwise. She has given women in their 20s and 30s a wise explanation as to why finding a lifelong mate has turned into a seemingly hopeless chore. Fascinating and reassuring, her portrayal of the single woman's plight leaves young women with more hope -- and more strength -- than they had before."
-Alexandra Robbins, co-author of Quarterlife Crisis and author of Secrets of the Tomb

About the Author

Award-winning journalist BARBARA DAFOE WHITEHEAD writes about social issues for numerous national publications. She holds a Ph.D. in American social history from the University of Chicago and currently serves as the codirector of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. The author of The Divorce Culture, she lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.