On Her Own: 2growing Up in the Shadow of the American Dream

``A female version of the American Dream is alive and well,'' writes Sidel, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York, after interviewing over 150 females, ages 12 to early 40s, for this provocative and informative book. Despite our society's changing conditions--high rates of divorce, the increased need for two wage-earners in one family, an explosive rise in the number of female-headed households, etc.--many of those interviewed cling fast to an ideology of upward mobility and ``having it all.'' Sidel ( Women and Children Last ) calls this group New American Dreamers. She also interviewed ``neo-traditionalists,'' who envision their future role as within the home, and ``outsiders,'' a catch-all category in which she lumps the poor, the homeless, Native Americans, troubled adolescents and the otherwise socially alienated. Younger women reported that sex was bewildering, a minefield, while many women of all age levels gave an impression of willingness to ``go it alone.'' (Jan.)