The complete book of mothers-in-law : a celebration / Luisa Dillner.

"Most of us either have a mother-in-law or will be one. It's not a role most women take on gladly. Mothers-in-law are traditionally the butt of jokes and the scapegoats for family squabbles. But are they really as nasty, possessive and interfering as their reputation suggests? Luisa Dillner looks beyond the stereotype of the mother-in-law and finds they come in many different varieties; from loveable and loyal to lonely, ferocious, and scheming. There are brave mothers-in-laws such as the explorer and missionary David Livingstone's who trekked hundreds of miles across Africa to help out with the grandchildren, impossible ones like the actress Judy Garland, who picked her own son-in-law and Royal ones such as Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II who both found controlling their sons and daughters-in-law their hardest job of all. This book traces the history of mothers-in-law, from Ancient Greece and Rome to modern times."--Global Books in Print.