Becoming the Ex-Wife : The Unconventional Life and Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott

**The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott****—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman.** Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, 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 Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades... "Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure."— The New Yorker "Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention."— New York Times The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman. Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, 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 Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her 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. The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott —best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman. Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, 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 Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades... "Becoming the Ex-Wife tells the story of US women's changing prospects in early twentieth-century life through the lens of its once-famous but now-forgotten subject, Ursula Parrott. Parrott was a prolific and best-selling author whose books, Hollywood deals, quartet of marriages and divorces, and numerous run-ins with the law made headlines over the course of her unconventional life. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife is a timely story about women and careers, divorce, reproductive rights, and single motherhood told through the life of a woman who was on the front line of a culture war that is still being fought today"-- Provided by publisher