Stroller: Object Lessons
Amanda Parrish Morgan
May 2025 · Bloomsbury US Audio · Narrated by Rachel Handshaw
headphones
Audiobook
2 hr 46 min
Unabridged
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
Want a 15 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
Bloomsbury presents Stroller by Amanda Parrish Morgan, read by Rachel Handshaw.
The Best Books of 2022, The New Yorker
Object Lessons is a series of short books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, four-figure strollers have become not just status symbols but cultural identifiers.
There are sleek jogging strollers for serious athletes, impossibly compact strollers for parents determined to travel internationally with pre-ambulatory children, and those featuring a ride-on kick board or second, less “babyish” seat, designed with older siblings in mind. Despite the many models available, we are all familiar with the image of a harried mother struggling to use a stroller of any kind in a public space that does not accommodate it. There are anti-stroller evangelists, fervently preaching the gospel of baby wearing and attachment parenting. All of these attitudes, seemingly about an object, are also revealing of how we believe parents and children ought to move through the world.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
The Best Books of 2022, The New Yorker
Object Lessons is a series of short books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, four-figure strollers have become not just status symbols but cultural identifiers.
There are sleek jogging strollers for serious athletes, impossibly compact strollers for parents determined to travel internationally with pre-ambulatory children, and those featuring a ride-on kick board or second, less “babyish” seat, designed with older siblings in mind. Despite the many models available, we are all familiar with the image of a harried mother struggling to use a stroller of any kind in a public space that does not accommodate it. There are anti-stroller evangelists, fervently preaching the gospel of baby wearing and attachment parenting. All of these attitudes, seemingly about an object, are also revealing of how we believe parents and children ought to move through the world.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
About the author
Amanda Parrish Morgan is a Writing Instructor at Fairfield University and a Westport Writers’ Workshop Instructor. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Guernica, The Millions, The Rumpus, The American Scholar, Women’s Running, JSTOR Daily, Ploughshares, and N+1, among other places.
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
