January Jones

An Ode to 'Mad Men's' Maddest Mother

Lizzie, I loved the story of your bad mother-daughter moment over Barbie and how you both talked about it later. Your story and The Atlantic's criticism of "Mad Men" in this month's issue reminded me that I haven't yet written an ode to the show's most emblematic mother, Betty Draper. She is the best characterization I've ever seen of the '50s and '60s mothers I knew. In those days before the words "child-centered household" had ever been heard, the idea that a child might be spoiled was considered a much greater danger than that a child might not be fully expressing his or her feelings. ...

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