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Review: Naomi Wolf, Hanna Rosin tackle women in a new century

Though provocative, Wolf's 'Vagina: A New Biography' takes leaps of logic. Rosin's 'The End of Men — and the Rise of Women' offers thoughtful research.

September 09, 2012|By Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times

This applies particularly to men in the middle class, which now resembles the lower class: a lot of jobless men and single working mothers. Meanwhile, among the wealthy, two-parent working families are the norm; many are what she calls seesaw marriages, in which the role of primary breadwinner is traded between husband and wife. She's got the statistics to prove it.

"The End of Men" is buttressed by numbers, but it's a fascinating read because it transcends them. Rosin sits in kitchens, asks questions and adeptly portrays the individuals inside the statistics. She meets with high-achieving young women and gets a real sense of their sex lives. On a visit to a community college's night classes, she sees an exhuasted working mother fall asleep between floors in the elevator.

These are well-reported stories; when she reaches for an anecdote, it counts. In Alabama, a former plant manager made a grudging call to the unemployment office — only to hear the voice of his former secretary on the other end of the line.

Rosin's genius was to connect these dots in ways no one else has for an unexpected portrait of our moment. "The End of Men" is not really about a crisis for men; it's a crisis of American opportunity.

carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com

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