From Amazon
The story of how the daughter of a fundamentalist Church of God preacher became a nurse-midwife in Harlem, the director of the Planned Parenthood office in Dayton, Ohio, and later president of national Planned Parenthood from 1978 to 1992 would make a fascinating book even if abortion and reproductive rights had not become one of the hot-button issues of the last decade. Since the 1992 Presidential election Americans seem to have arrived at an uneasy truce in the right to life wars. Wattleton's absorbing, sometimes preachy memoir gives an account of those wars from the front lines.
From Library Journal
Popular talk show host Winfrey relates her life story here in the form of quotes. She comments on her early years, her career moves, and her weight problems, among other topics.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
"I have never believed in the impossible," declares Wattleton, acknowledging that it is a motto she learned at her mother's knee. By any measure, Faye Wattleton has led an extraordinary life. The daughter of a black female fundamentalist preacher, Faye Wattleton went on to become president of Planned Parenthood from 1978 to 1992, the first African American (and the first woman) to head the organization since Margaret Sanger founded it in 1916. During a period of explosive conflict, Wattleton played a crucial role in defining our national debate over sex education, contraception, and abortion. Her mission has inspired millions--while the issues she has strongly defended have become targets for Congressional attacks, legal challenges, and fiery zealots. Faye Wattleton has literally put her life on the line for what she believes, and this fascinating book is both a chronicle of her life and our times.
The young Faye found strength and pride in her mother's achievements: at a time when most black women were struggling under the double repression of racism and sexism, Ozie Wattleton became a fiery fundamentalist minister who riveted congregations, both white and black, all over the country. Ozie's devotion to her calling made her a wonderful role model for her only child, but as the minister's daughter Faye was expected to be the living exemplar of her mother's teachings.
Committed to her own identity, Faye chose a very different path from her mother's. A nursing student at Ohio State University and later a graduate of Columbia University's midwifery program, Wattleton dedicated herself to healing--only to be stunned by the harsh realities of women's lives in America, especially the humiliation and danger inflicted on women by illegal abortions.
She joined Planned Parenthood because it offered dignity and reproductive options to women, rising quickly to the top of the organization. During the fourteen years of her controversial leadership, Wattleton moved Planned Parenthood into the forefront of the movement to preserve and extend women's reproductive rights, standing up to an increasingly vocal and violent right-wing opposition. This battle--waged through our judicial, legislative, and social systems--is recounted with both clarity and passion in Life on the Line.
As we continue to shape and define the global initiatives that will preserve women's right to choose, Faye Wattleton remains a voice of reason. She is a woman of action who has courageously placed herself in the center of the most explosive issue of our time without losing her compassion.
The young Faye found strength and pride in her mother's achievements: at a time when most black women were struggling under the double repression of racism and sexism, Ozie Wattleton became a fiery fundamentalist minister who riveted congregations, both white and black, all over the country. Ozie's devotion to her calling made her a wonderful role model for her only child, but as the minister's daughter Faye was expected to be the living exemplar of her mother's teachings.
Committed to her own identity, Faye chose a very different path from her mother's. A nursing student at Ohio State University and later a graduate of Columbia University's midwifery program, Wattleton dedicated herself to healing--only to be stunned by the harsh realities of women's lives in America, especially the humiliation and danger inflicted on women by illegal abortions.
She joined Planned Parenthood because it offered dignity and reproductive options to women, rising quickly to the top of the organization. During the fourteen years of her controversial leadership, Wattleton moved Planned Parenthood into the forefront of the movement to preserve and extend women's reproductive rights, standing up to an increasingly vocal and violent right-wing opposition. This battle--waged through our judicial, legislative, and social systems--is recounted with both clarity and passion in Life on the Line.
As we continue to shape and define the global initiatives that will preserve women's right to choose, Faye Wattleton remains a voice of reason. She is a woman of action who has courageously placed herself in the center of the most explosive issue of our time without losing her compassion.
From the Back Cover
"A memoir with the depth of a novel, the breadth of an American saga, and the urgency of today's headlines."
--Gloria Steinem
"A revealing portrait of a remarkable woman."
--Emerge
The story of Faye Wattleton's "struggles against those who think governments should make decisions about human reproduction. Wattleton doesn't argue but tells and, in telling, persuades."
--The New Yorker
"The richly detailed story of a woman's personal and professional evolution, Life on the Line is also a dramatic history of women's struggle for procreative rights throughout the world and an impassioned call to women to understand and embrace their inherent power. . . . [The] recollections of childhood relations with her itinerant, evangelist mother, her warm and enterprising aunts, and her proud and every-dapper father make for interesting vignettes of the life of a strong, working-class African-American family with roots in the Jim Crow South."
--The Washington Post
"A rousing adventure story about how Faye . . . grew up to be the first of her race to run Planned Parenthood since Margaret Sanger founded it back in 1916."
--Liz Smith
New York Post
Life on the Line "will remain . . . as a milestone for future generations attempting to understand the polarities of politics and emotions that have made women's reproductive health the maelstrom of controversy it is today."
--San Francisco Chronicle --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
--Gloria Steinem
"A revealing portrait of a remarkable woman."
--Emerge
The story of Faye Wattleton's "struggles against those who think governments should make decisions about human reproduction. Wattleton doesn't argue but tells and, in telling, persuades."
--The New Yorker
"The richly detailed story of a woman's personal and professional evolution, Life on the Line is also a dramatic history of women's struggle for procreative rights throughout the world and an impassioned call to women to understand and embrace their inherent power. . . . [The] recollections of childhood relations with her itinerant, evangelist mother, her warm and enterprising aunts, and her proud and every-dapper father make for interesting vignettes of the life of a strong, working-class African-American family with roots in the Jim Crow South."
--The Washington Post
"A rousing adventure story about how Faye . . . grew up to be the first of her race to run Planned Parenthood since Margaret Sanger founded it back in 1916."
--Liz Smith
New York Post
Life on the Line "will remain . . . as a milestone for future generations attempting to understand the polarities of politics and emotions that have made women's reproductive health the maelstrom of controversy it is today."
--San Francisco Chronicle --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
Faye Wattleton consults with American business and political leaders and with heads of state, ambassadors, and cabinet ministers around the world on family planning issues. She holds fifteen honorary degrees, is a member of the National Women's Hall of Fame (1993), and has won numerous awards, including the Jefferson Award for the Greatest Public Service Performed by a Private Citizen (1992) and the Margaret Sanger Woman of Valor Award (1996). She makes her home in Manhattan.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
