Deborah Tannen On Sisters

Murrow Room
Tannen Discusses Book on Sisters, 6:30 pm Dec. 2
Linguist and Georgetown professor Deborah Tannen Discusses will discuss her book, "You Were Always Mom's Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives," at 6:30 pm, Dec. 2.
Since her 2001 book, "You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation," Tannen has been recognized as an expert on the art of communication. "You Were Always Mom's Favorite" explores sister relationships and is the latest book in her relationship canon, covering, among others, conversations between mothers and daughters. among coworkers and between men and women.
In "You Were Always Mom's Favorite!" Tannen analyzes hundreds of conversations with women talking to or about their sisters -- including her own -- and discusses the balance between rivalry and connection, the importance of birth order, the trickiness of family alignments and secrets, the responsibilities and privileges of older sisters, and the double meaning of the word "bond."
Copies of the hardcover book will be available for purchase for $26, and Tannen will sign them. This is a fund-raiser for the Eric Friedheim National Journalism Library, and no outside books are permitted. This event is open to the public and free of charge, however, reservations are required. RSVP at opus@press.org or phone 202-662-7523.
Excerpt from "You Were Always Mom's Favorite!":
Conversations with sisters can spark extremes of anger or extremes of love. Everything said between sisters carries meaning not only from what was just said but from all the conversations that came before and "before" can span a lifetime. The layers of meaning combine profound connection with equally profound competition. Both the competition and the connection are complicated by inevitable comparison with someone whose life has been so similar to yours and yet so different and always in your view.