"In this scrupulously researched, immensely readable, and eye-opening book, Anna Louie Sussman takes us through a world that was, until quite recently, inconceivable: one in which fewer and fewer people are finding partners, making stable lives with time for friends and fun, and having the number of children they say they want to have. What on earth is going on? Sussman has a lot to say both about how we got here and how we can make society fairer, more humane, and more enjoyable for everyone, whether they want to have children or not." --Katha Pollitt, columnist, The Nation "The economics alone are damning: greedy jobs, mountains of student debt, ruinous housing costs, and childcare that consumes a full salary. Anna Louie Sussman's book brings us the grinding consequences of those abstractions for those who did everything right, yet still found that starting a family had become, well, inconceivable. As someone who studies labor markets for a living, I knew the numbers. Sussman taught me what the spreadsheet misses." --David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Daniel and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in Economics, Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, and co-author of The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines "For years, as a journalist, Anna Louie Sussman has been prescient on every aspect of fertility, reproduction, gender relations, and economic insecurity--she has reported on countless scientific studies, considered all trends and social phenomena, and sought to verify her many hypotheses through dogged reporting with real people. In Inconceivable , she finally brings her entire arsenal of analysis to understand what many consider a rapidly unfolding global crisis: plunging birthrates and diminishing populations, from the United States to Turkey to South Korea.

But the book's great pleasure is that it also goes way beyond sociological and economic studies. It is also 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? What does it mean to cherish human life? This is certain to be a definitive work." --Suzy Hansen, author of From Life Itself and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Notes on a Foreign Country "Anna Louie Sussman has delivered a thoughtful, deeply reported investigation into contemporary family formation, giving voice to those who feel parenthood and partnership have become so seemingly out of reach. Inconceivable will start innumerable conversations among those who see declining marriage and fertility rates both in the U.S. and around the world, and wonder what, if anything, can be done to change our trajectory. You may not agree with her answers--but you can't deny that Sussman is asking the right questions." --Patrick T.

Brown, fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center "Fertility rates are falling across the globe, and no one seems to know how to reverse the trend. Anna Louie Sussman combines in-depth reportage and wry self-excavation to tackle one of the biggest questions facing modern civilization: whether and how its next generation will come to be. Inconceivable is nuanced, thought-provoking, and brave--a heartfelt paean to family and shared futures, and an incisive critique of the systems that make both feel impossible to sustain." --Christine Emba, author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation "Sussman's blend of curiosity and empathy allows the reader to eavesdrop on the most intimate and vulnerable choices a person can make. Inconceivable is a fascinating map of the doubts and hopes that shape American families." --Leah Sargeant, author of The Dignity of Dependence.