Becoming the Ex-Wife

Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure.TheNew YorkerRemind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention.New York Times The riveting biography of Ursula Parrottbest-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman. Credited with popularizing the label ex-wife in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcees, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrotts rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American womens lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a womans writer, reading Parrotts writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernityher work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.