American Children

About the Book

Lois Ackerman watched her friends changing around her, and watched herself change as she sturggled to come to terms with her own intelligence in a time when intellignce and womanhood weren't supposed to mix; as she fell happily into the baffling predicaments of sex; and as she made her way nimbly around the compromises and capitulations that were claiming the brightest and best of her companions.

This funny, touching novel radiates the aura of a fondly remembered, vanished age — a time not so innocent (and not so distant) as we might be tempted to believe.

About the Author

Over the years Ann Birstein's stories have appeared in The New Yorker, as well as other magazines. She is a well-known essayist and reviewer of the literary scene. American Children is her sixth novel.