BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER
After igniting a firestorm of debate across the nation, Amy Chua’s daring, conversation-changing memoir is now in paperback.
At once provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Motherset off a global parenting debate with its story of one mother’s journey in strict parenting. Amy Chua argues that Western parenting tries to respect and nurture children’s individuality, while Chinese parents typically believe that arming children with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence prepares them best for the future. Achingly honest and profoundly challenging, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua’s iron-willed decision to raise her daughters,
After igniting a firestorm of debate across the nation, Amy Chua’s daring, conversation-changing memoir is now in paperback.
At once provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Motherset off a global parenting debate with its story of one mother’s journey in strict parenting. Amy Chua argues that Western parenting tries to respect and nurture children’s individuality, while Chinese parents typically believe that arming children with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence prepares them best for the future. Achingly honest and profoundly challenging, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua’s iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, the Chinese way-and the remarkable, sometimes heartbreaking results her choice inspires.
- Penguin
- Paperback
- December 2011
- 256 Pages
- 9780143120582
Buy the Book
$16.00
About Amy Chua
Amy Chua is the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability and Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance—and Why They Fall. She lives with her husband, two daughters and two Samoyeds in New Haven, Connecticut.
Praise
“Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother hit the parenting hot button, but also a lot more, including people’s complicated feelings about ambition, intellectualism, high culture, the Ivy League, strong women and America’s standing in a world where China is ascendant. Chua’s conviction that hard work leads to inner confidence is a resonant one.”—Chicago Tribune
“Readers will alternately gasp at and empathize with Chua’s struggles and aspirations, all the while enjoying her writing, which, like her kid-rearing philosophy, is brisk, lively and no-holds-barred. This memoir raises intriguing, sometimes uncomfortable questions about love, pride, ambition, achievement and self-worth that will resonate among success-obsessed parents… Readers of all stripes will respond to [Battle Hymn of the] Tiger Mother.”—The Washington Post
“The cultural divide Chua so brilliantly captures is one we stand to witness more and more in our globalized age, after all; and what with Asia and Asian achievement looming ever larger in the American imagination, the issues inherent in Battle Hymn [of the Tiger Mother] are as important as they are entertaining… I was riveted by this book.”—Boston Globe
“Entertaining, bracingly honest and, yes, thought-provoking.”—The New York Times Book Review
Discussion Questions
In the beginning of her book Chua describes her daughters Sophia and Lulu’s personalities from birth. In what ways are they inherently different from one another?
Chua identifies herself with her Chinese zodiac sign, the tiger. How does she exemplify its characteristics? Are there any ways in which she might defy those characteristics? Can you relate to your own zodiac sign?
What role does music play in Chua’s life as compared to her children’s lives? And does music play such an important role in your own life?
How is Lulu and Sophia’s childhood different from their mother’s, as Chua describes them? Do you see similarities and differences in your own childhood?
Never a pet lover, Chua reluctantly ends up raising two dogs, Coco and Pushkin. How do the dogs change her, and what does she learn from them?
What do you think about Chua’s relationship with her younger daughter, Lulu? How do they push each other’s buttons?
Chua only intermittently discusses her husband’s opinions, but mostly keeps him out of her memoir. What can you glean about him from these pages?
If you could ask Chua one question, what would it be?
At the end of the book Chua expresses some regrets about her choices. What does she regret and how do you imagine she might do things differently, given the chance?