Abstract
Three books have touched me deeply and expanded my consciousness. Each book is concerned with mothering or being mothered and the central role this has played in women's and men's lives. Everything we know about the human condition flows from the initial contact of the infant with its mother. Throughout our history we have not been able to separate child bearing from child rearing. For myriad reasons women have kept mothering their own special experience. In perpetuating this arrangement we all suffer: women by not experiencing their power in the wider world, men by not learning first hand how to be caring and nurturing humans, and infants by not having a primary experience of intimacy with fathers.
The books discussed in this article offered me a framework within which to view these complex themes. The richness of the material lies in the perspec tive developed by these women writers. In this article I share my responses to these works, and then move on to indicate how my own thinking was in fluenced.
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