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by Andromeda Romano-Lax
"The mother begins to destroy the child the moment it's born," wrote the founder of behaviorist psychology, John B. Watson, whose 1928 parenting guide was revered as the child-rearing bible. For their dangerous and "mawkish" impulses to kiss and hug their child, "most mothers should be indicted for psychological murder."
Behave is the story of Rosalie Rayner, Watson's ambitious young wife and the mother of two of his children.
In 1920, when she graduated from Vassar College, Rayner was ready to make her mark on the world. Intelligent, beautiful, and unflappable, she won a coveted research position at Johns Hopkins assisting the charismatic celebrity psychologist John B. Watson. Together, Watson and Rayner conducted controversial experiments on hundreds of babies to prove behaviorist principles. They also embarked on a scandalous affair that cost them both their jobs - and recast the sparkling young Rosalie Rayner, scientist and thinker, as Mrs. John Watson, wife and conflicted, maligned mother, just another "woman behind a great man."
With Behave, Andromeda Romano-Lax offers a provocative fictional biography of Rosalie Rayner Watson, a woman whose work influenced generations of Americans, and whose legacy has been lost in the shadow of her husband's. In turns moving and horrifying, Behave is a richly nuanced and disturbing novel about science, progress, love, marriage, motherhood, and what all those things cost a passionate, promising young woman.
"Starred Review. Rayner finally has the spotlight in this compelling fictional memoir." - Kirkus
"Starred Review. By detailing how the study of human behavior differs from understanding people, and how smart women can miss the obvious and make mistakes, Romano-Lax sheds a harsh yet deeply moving light on feminism and psychology, in theory and in practice." - Publishers Weekly
"Romano-Lax offers a fascinating novel about the psyche of a complex woman and the infancy of behavioral psychology. " - Booklist
"Because of its subject matter, this is a novel that may work best for those interested in psychology and history." - Library Journal
"A fascinating exploration of ethical and psychological unraveling ... With the skill and confidence of a master, Andromeda Romano-Lax crafts a deeply personal narrative of a complex woman who lived in history's gaps. Quite simply, I tore through this book and so should you." - Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation
"Behave invites us to explore a lifetime of questions about science, ethics, motherhood, sexual attraction, and love." - Hall P. Beck, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Appalachian State University and author of Finding Little Albert
This information about Behave was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Andromeda Romano-Lax is the author of The Spanish Bow, a New York Times Editors' Choice that has been translated into 11 languages, and The Detour, as well as numerous works of nonfiction. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is a co-founder of 49 Writers, a statewide literary organization. Recently, she has divided her time among Alaska, Mexico, and Asia.
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