Author Description

"Readers of Cheaper by the Dozen remember Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972) as the nurturing mom who endures the antics of not only twelve children but also an engineer husband eager to experiment with the principles of efficiency - especially on his own household. What readers today might not know is that Lillian Gilbreth was herself a high-profile engineer, and the only woman to win the coveted Hoover Medal for engineers. She traveled the world, served as an advisor on women's issues to five U.S. presidents, and mingled with the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart. Her husband, Frank Gilbreth, died after twenty years of marriage, leaving her to raise their eleven surviving children, all under the age of nineteen. She continued her career and put each child through college. Retiring at the age of ninety, Lillian Gilbreth was the working mother who 'did it all.'" "Jane Lancaster's biography tells Lillian Gilbreth's life story - one that resonates with issues faced today by many working women. Lancaster has woven into her narrative many insights gleaned from interviews with the surviving Gilbreth children and from historical research into such topics as technology, family, work, and feminism."--BOOK JACKET