Celebrated writers Samia Serageldin and Lee Smith have curated a diverse collection that challenges stereotypes about mothers. The mothers here were shaped, for good and bad, by the economic and political crosswinds of their time. Whether their formative experience was the Great Depression or the upheavals of the 1970s, their lives reflected their era and influenced how they raised their children. Writers here explore the reliability of memory, examine family dynamics, and come to terms with the past.

Contributors include Belle Boggs, Marshall Chapman, Hal Crowther, Marianne Gingher, Jaki Shelton Green, Sally Greene, Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Randall Kenan, Phillip Lopate, Frances Mayes, Jill McCorkle, Melody Moezzi, Elaine Neil Orr, Steven Petrow, Margaret Rich, Omid Safi, James Seay, Alan Shapiro, Bland Simpson, Sharon K. Swanson, and Daniel Wallace.

Softcover, 264 pages, $22; e-book $16.99. 800-848-6224