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Who Gets to Have Kids?
- Author
- Anna Louie Sussman
- Narrator
- Courtney Patterson
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 8 September 2026
- Run Time
- 10 hours 42 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
'Makes the punchy case that fertility is being driven down by political decisions' Zoe Williams, The Guardian
'A compelling and humane case to lower the barriers to having kids for those who want them' The New Republic
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For generations, starting a family was an ordinary part of life. But today, there’s a marked gap between how many children people want to have and how many they actually will. In this era of unprecedented opportunity for women, soaring inequality and a changing climate, who gets to have kids, and why?
Spurred by the unexpected obstacles she encountered in her own quest to become a parent, journalist Anna Louie Sussman explores what is keeping us from having the families we desire, as birth rates plummet around the world. As she probes everything from dating to housing, the climate crisis to the nature of work, Sussman shows how decades of policy choices that elevated profits over people and individualism over interdependence have left people increasingly unable to envision a future in which they have children. Reporting from South Korea, Scandinavia, North America, Poland and beyond, Sussman unearths intimate stories that illustrate the deep personal and collective cost when such a fundamental human experience falls so far out of reach.
A singular and timely investigation into how parenthood has been altered by a capitalist system run wild, this is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the universal challenges and triumphs of becoming a parent in our uncertain age.
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'A resounding call for a more pro-human world' Publishers Weekly
Critics Review
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'Through prodigious research and dozens of personal stories from around the globe, [the book] shows vividly the difficulties of starting a family in a world that is growing hotter and more unequal … makes a compelling and humane case to lower the barriers to having kids for those who want them' The New Republic
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'Makes the punchy case that fertility is being driven down by political decisions' Zoe Williams, The Guardian
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‘What troubles Sussman is the gap between how many kids people say they want and how many are born … Sussman assembles a formidable catalogue of impediments’ New Yorker
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'Eye-opening… Sussman astutely proposes that a truly pronatalist social policy would ameliorate economic and climate precarity and foster a society structured around communal care. It’s a resounding call for a more pro-human world' Publishers Weekly
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‘The high price of fertility is one of the most concerning signs of increasing inequality in today’s society. Sussman reveals the deep roots of the parenthood gap, and diagnoses an urgent problem that affects us all. Vivid and persuasive’ Sarah Franklin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Cambridge
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'A revelatory and deeply humane look at how a pitiless economic system is robbing people of the intimacies that often make life worthwhile' Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction
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'A broad-ranging, personal and tentatively hopeful look at the challenges of fertility' Kirkus
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'Incredibly well-researched, featuring many great personal stories, including the author's own. I was gripped' Audrey Ward, author of The Waiting Room
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‘A passionate, thoughtful, and often movingly poetic exploration of life’s most fundamental questions: Why do so many of us feel so scared of the future? How should we take care of one another? This is certain to be a definitive work’ Suzy Hansen, author of Notes on a Foreign Country
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Details
- Author
- Anna Louie Sussman
- Narrator
- Courtney Patterson
- Duration
- 10 hours 42 minutes
- Release Date
- 8 September 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008411749
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Involuntary childlessness: advice, topics and issues, Parenting, parenthood: advice, topics and issues, Infertility and fertilization, Sociology: family, kinship and relationships, Social and ethical issues, Social discrimination and social justice, Feminism and feminist theory
Synopsis
'Makes the punchy case that fertility is being driven down by political decisions' Zoe Williams, The Guardian 'A compelling and humane case to lower the barriers to having kids for those who want them' The New Republic ________________________________ For generations, starting a family was an ordinary part of life. But today, there’s a marked gap between how many children people want to have and how many they actually will. In this era of unprecedented opportunity for women, soaring inequality and a changing climate, who gets to have kids, and why? Spurred by the unexpected obstacles she encountered in her own quest to become a parent, journalist Anna Louie Sussman explores what is keeping us from having the families we desire, as birth rates plummet around the world. As she probes everything from dating to housing, the climate crisis to the nature of work, Sussman shows how decades of policy choices that elevated profits over people and individualism over interdependence have left people increasingly unable to envision a future in which they have children. Reporting from South Korea, Scandinavia, North America, Poland and beyond, Sussman unearths intimate stories that illustrate the deep personal and collective cost when such a fundamental human experience falls so far out of reach. A singular and timely investigation into how parenthood has been altered by a capitalist system run wild, this is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the universal challenges and triumphs of becoming a parent in our uncertain age. ________________________________ 'A resounding call for a more pro-human world' Publishers Weekly
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