Linda Seidel is a professor of English at Truman State University.

Mediated Maternity: Contemporary American Portrayals of Bad Mothers in Literature and Popular Culture, Linda Seidel aims a discerning eye at those media narratives that compel us with their tales of motherhood gone awry and suggests that these stories not only expose the shortcomings of individual mothers but also reveal our collective fears about the role of women in contemporary culture. . . .What Seidel . . . offer[s] . . . is a series of revealing glimpses into popular representations of American motherhood. Our current media landscape, littered with images of deviant, neglectful, monstrous mothers, is reflective of a cultural moment in which women’s intellect, bodies, and economic and political potential are colliding with deep-seated visions of idealized motherhood. Mediated Maternity provides an important analysis of the critical and often contradictory media messages aimed at mothers and moms-to-be and points to the deep and powerful impact these representations have on the roles, rights, and responsibilities of all women.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Mediated MotherhoodPart I: The Nancy Grace EffectChapter 1. Nancy Grace and the Motherhood CriticsChapter 2. Neonaticide in Nancy Grace and Jodi PicoultPart II: Working-Class Mothers in White and BlackChapter 3. Gone Baby Gone: Reproducing the Bad MotherChapter 4. Stereotyping the Black Welfare Mother in PreciousPart III: Alienated Maternity in White Professional WomenChapter 5. Creating the Reality of Postpartum Depression in Shields’ Down Came the Rain and Morton’s Breakable YouChapter 6. Glenn Close and the Monstrous Maternal: Mothers and Daughters in DamagesEpilogue: Motherhood in ContextReferences

Linda Seidel is a professor of English at Truman State University.

Mediated Maternity: Contemporary American Portrayals of Bad Mothers in Literature and Popular Culture, Linda Seidel aims a discerning eye at those media narratives that compel us with their tales of motherhood gone awry and suggests that these stories not only expose the shortcomings of individual mothers but also reveal our collective fears about the role of women in contemporary culture. . . .What Seidel . . . offer[s] . . . is a series of revealing glimpses into popular representations of American motherhood. Our current media landscape, littered with images of deviant, neglectful, monstrous mothers, is reflective of a cultural moment in which women’s intellect, bodies, and economic and political potential are colliding with deep-seated visions of idealized motherhood. Mediated Maternity provides an important analysis of the critical and often contradictory media messages aimed at mothers and moms-to-be and points to the deep and powerful impact these representations have on the roles, rights, and responsibilities of all women.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Mediated MotherhoodPart I: The Nancy Grace EffectChapter 1. Nancy Grace and the Motherhood CriticsChapter 2. Neonaticide in Nancy Grace and Jodi PicoultPart II: Working-Class Mothers in White and BlackChapter 3. Gone Baby Gone: Reproducing the Bad MotherChapter 4. Stereotyping the Black Welfare Mother in PreciousPart III: Alienated Maternity in White Professional WomenChapter 5. Creating the Reality of Postpartum Depression in Shields’ Down Came the Rain and Morton’s Breakable YouChapter 6. Glenn Close and the Monstrous Maternal: Mothers and Daughters in DamagesEpilogue: Motherhood in ContextReferences

Linda Seidel is a professor of English at Truman State University.

Mediated Maternity: Contemporary American Portrayals of Bad Mothers in Literature and Popular Culture, Linda Seidel aims a discerning eye at those media narratives that compel us with their tales of motherhood gone awry and suggests that these stories not only expose the shortcomings of individual mothers but also reveal our collective fears about the role of women in contemporary culture. . . .What Seidel . . . offer[s] . . . is a series of revealing glimpses into popular representations of American motherhood. Our current media landscape, littered with images of deviant, neglectful, monstrous mothers, is reflective of a cultural moment in which women’s intellect, bodies, and economic and political potential are colliding with deep-seated visions of idealized motherhood. Mediated Maternity provides an important analysis of the critical and often contradictory media messages aimed at mothers and moms-to-be and points to the deep and powerful impact these representations have on the roles, rights, and responsibilities of all women.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Mediated MotherhoodPart I: The Nancy Grace EffectChapter 1. Nancy Grace and the Motherhood CriticsChapter 2. Neonaticide in Nancy Grace and Jodi PicoultPart II: Working-Class Mothers in White and BlackChapter 3. Gone Baby Gone: Reproducing the Bad MotherChapter 4. Stereotyping the Black Welfare Mother in PreciousPart III: Alienated Maternity in White Professional WomenChapter 5. Creating the Reality of Postpartum Depression in Shields’ Down Came the Rain and Morton’s Breakable YouChapter 6. Glenn Close and the Monstrous Maternal: Mothers and Daughters in DamagesEpilogue: Motherhood in ContextReferences