Mary Eberstadt Popular Books

Mary Eberstadt Biography & Facts

Mary Tedeschi Eberstadt is an American essayist, novelist, and author of several books of nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in publications including Quillette, TIME, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Review, First Things, The Weekly Standard, and other venues. In March 2017, she was named senior research fellow at the Faith & Reason Institute. Eberstadt spoke at the Edmund Burke Foundation's inaugural National Conservatism Conference in July, 2019. Education and personal life Eberstadt grew up in rural upstate New York. She graduated magna cum laude in 1983 from Cornell University, where she was a four-year Telluride Scholar. Eberstadt is married to author and demographer Nicholas Eberstadt. Professional career Eberstadt has written for a wide variety of magazines and newspapers. New York Times columnist David Brooks has twice awarded Eberstadt's writing a "Sidney," his annual award for best essay writing of the year. Columnist George Will has called Eberstadt "intimidatingly intelligent," and author George Weigel has called her "our premier analyst of American cultural foibles and follies, with a keen eye for oddities that illuminate just how strange the country's moral culture has become." In 2019, Eberstadt released her book Primal Screams, wherein she postulates that the sexual revolution and female contraception of the 1960s contributed to identity politics. She says that it contributed to premarital sex, skyrocketing rates of abortion, fatherless homes, family shrinkage and family breakup. She especially blames smaller families for a lack of family role models for young people, and thus a breakdown of understanding between genders. The end of the family and church-life is deemed as the cause contributing to people seeking belonging in identity politics. In 2016, HarperCollins published Eberstadt's book It's Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies, which chronicles the rise in discrimination against religious believers in the United States and elsewhere during an era of ascendant secularism. The book argues that the sexual revolution has inadvertently generated a new, rival, secularist Western faith, complete with quasi-religious ritual and theology; and that this new secularist faith must learn to coexist in civility alongside traditional Judeo-Christianity, rather than seeking to drive other men and women of faith from the public square. Thomas Farr of the Religious Freedom Project said that "every man and woman of the left should read this book." Robert P. George called it "a powerful manifesto." Russell D. Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention said that "this book will equip you to know what's happening to America's first freedom and will inspire you to act." In its review of the book, Publishers Weekly noted the one-sided nature of her arguments: "Casting believers almost entirely as innocent victims without any political or cultural power causes the work to lose some nuance, as does her assertion that Western secularism places Islam off limits for critique. For traditional Christians, Eberstadt provides a language to defend their position, a comforting sense that their persecution is real, and a view of the irony of progressives curtailing freedom....[T]he final chapter's call to attend to rhetoric and avoid generalization powerfully makes the case for more civility in the midst of intense disagreement." Writing in the Weekly Standard, Jonathan Last called the book "brilliant" and a "tour de force, essential reading for anyone wondering how our civilization can survive the current moment." Eberstadt is the author of several other books, including How the West Really Lost God, published in 2013. How the West Really Lost God, fortified with an intensive study of both historical data and contemporary popular culture, proffers the original thesis that the undermining of the family in Western culture has in turn helped power religious decline. Francis Fukuyama wrote of the book, "Mary Eberstadt is one of the most acute and creative social observers of our time. She is not afraid to challenge received wisdom and her insights are always well worth pondering." Rodney Stark called the book "A brilliant contribution to the really big question about the future of the West, and a pleasure to read." The review in The Economist said that the "elegantly written book repeatedly shows that strong families help to keep religious practice alive, and that too many people see a causal connection running exclusively in the opposite direction." Writing in The American Conservative, Rod Dreher called the book "stunning," adding that "Eberstadt's contribution is to make an argument that not only does religion cause family formation, but family formation causes religion." Eberstadt also authored Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution, published in 2012. The book examines how the sexual revolution has produced widespread discontent among men and women, and has harmed the weakest members of society. Eberstadt explores the portrayal of the sexual revolution in pop culture voices, pinpointing "a wildly contradictory mix of chatter about how wonderful it is that women are now all liberated for sexual fun--and how mysteriously impossible it has become to find a good, steady, committed boyfriend at the same time." A review in the Washington Times stated that "in this concise, elegantly written book, Eberstadt marries brilliant analytical power with wry wit" and called it "an enormous contribution to understanding both modern moral culture and the significance of current political debate." Eberstadt's first book, Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs and Other Parent Substitutes, argued that separating children from family members at early ages is linked to childhood problems such as obesity and rising rates of mental and behavioral disorders. The book also connected these problems to popular culture, particularly as reflected in adolescent music (including the award-winning chapter, "Eminem is Right"). R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called it "a book that should be read by every concerned parent, pastor, and policy maker." Eberstadt served as a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution from 2002 to 2013. From 1990 to 1998, Eberstadt was executive editor of National Interest magazine. From 1985 and 1987, she was a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the US State Department and a speechwriter for then Secretary of State George P. Shultz. From 1984 to 1985, she was a special assistant to Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick. Eberstadt was also a managing editor of the Public Interest. Eberstadt is also the founder of the Kirkpatrick Society, named after her late mentor, Jeane Kirkpatrick. Founded in 2011, the Kirkpatrick Society is based in Washington, D.C. and is a professional and literary society for women working in journalism, gove.... Discover the Mary Eberstadt popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mary Eberstadt books.