Beside Every Successful Man: A Woman's Guide to Having It All

By Megan Basham

Book Overview

Strengthen family bonds, boost family income, and acquire a sense of purpose by helping your husband achieve his career dreams. Terms like "stay-at-home wife" and "stay-at-home mom" once meant a woman whose lifestyle involved running the household, preparing the meals, and tending to her husband and kids. But today, a new army of educated, highly skilled women has completely reinvented-and re-embraced-the "stay-at-home" role. Far from being June Cleaver, today's female "stay-at-homers" tend to be highly educated and work-credentialed, which opens up exciting possibilities-among them the opportunity to be her husband's most important career partner, mentoring and advising him to reach a level of success he wouldn't achieve otherwise. Profiling a wide array of smart, driven women who've found intellectual and spiritual satisfaction by assuring their husbands' success, journalist and researcher Megan Basham shows how those who forgo a second paycheck and make home "command central" can not only strengthen their marriage, but also-eventually-secure a higher income. One part manifesto, three parts hands-on prescriptive advice, this book is one of the most provocative and convincing ever written on the topic of women and work-a manual that, with its precise tips, will speed women toward the balance they seek. "There's food for thought here for any wife, including one who has her own career." --Claudia Anderson, managing editor, the Weekly Standard

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030739364X
• ISBN13: 9780307393647
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Crown Forum
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Amazing book!

What a truely amazing book!! Mrs. Basham's positive and refreshing book is just what is needed in todays' world. Through this excellent work we learn of the defining element in marriage as a partnership and interdependence through recognizing and serving each others needs, aspirations and desires instead of seeing our husband as a rival. A wife's interest in her husband's success, and her availability to help him become his best self in the workplace have a direct impact on her own happiness and fullfillment in all areas of the marital relationship. Not only is this book full of hope and inspiration, but is also extremely practical with each chapter's ending giving us a..."Game Plan", or "Take Away Facts". There is also an abundance of statistics on the real story behind divorce that we very conveniently don't hear from the feminist rhetoric. In addition, there is a wonderful appendix full of additional resourses that further expand on the information in each chapter. I can not reccommend this book hightly enough - no matter how long one has been married.

Very insightful

I was drawn to Basham's book because it highlights the importance of a husband and wife working together as a team for a common good. Throughout her book, Basham gave example after example of successful couples where the wife supported, encouraged and helped her husband achieve more success in the workplace. What a great and effective way to bring a couple together. Having oneness in a marriage is lost so much in our culture today and this book was a refreshing change! I'm excited to use the techniques Basham recommends in my own marriage!

Thoughtful book

This is one of the freshest "how to treat your man" books I've read. Basham takes the reader through a personal journey and has specific and tested advice for wives. Even though my husband is set and successful in his career, there are many ideas on how to give support that a man will respond to positively. This book has so many examples of studies and couples who struggled I wonder how long it took to write! I can't wait to see what Basham does next.

A Provocative and Helpful Book

I was led to read this book because of the Today show appearance on 9/16, featuring author Megan Basham, and feminist author Leslie Bennets ("The Feminine Mistake"). It intrigued me that Ms. Bennets claimed that Ms. Basham had "cherry-picked the research" and that her book was a "dangerous fairy tale." After reading the book, my view is that it is both intensively and extensively researched, and that research creates the context for the real meat of the book: the anecdotal research into a large number of marriages where the wife is functioning to exemplify the principles that Basham profiles. My other point about the research is this: claiming it to be "cherry-picked" is the equivalent of conceding the research supports the author's premise. It's sort of like conceding the match point in tennis. Game, Set, Match. The book is lively, the personal stories informative and entertaining. The design of the book brings any number of helpful resources to the table for anyone who wants to pursue its principles. It's not a book that tells wives (or husbands) what they should do, but what they can achieve in a quest to encourage each other and create satisfying careers.

Inspiring Book!

I thought the book was full of inspiring options for wives whether you work or stay home. It was also a great read, not at all boring like some self-help books can be. I enjoyed reading it, and gained useful insight.