Jane Goodall, Ph.D.,
Scientific Director, Gombe Stream Research Centre, Tanzania, Africa:

"Guy Odom is a brave man. Seeking to understand what is is that leads some people but not others to achieve success in their lives, he has delved into the circumstances of early childhood and, following promising leads, come to a number of conclusions that many will find outrageous. Knowing this, he yet dares to share his findings with us. This book will be highly controversial for in addition to the critics there will be many also who, like myself, applaud Odom, not least for his intellectual honesty. I am personally fascinated by this book because of the close parallels that can be drawn from Odom's analysis of the importance of the mother (or other primary caretaker) in the development of human character and desire for success and my own belief in the equally crucial part played by a chimpanzee mother in determining the eventual social rank of her offspring. (Similarities should not surprise us in view of the fact that our genetic material differs from that of the chimps by just over 1%.) Mothers, Leadership, and Success is an important and powerful book with a chilling message that we would do well to heed."

Baker & Taylor Books
Buyer's Bulletin, Independent Press Quarterly:

"...explores a host of timely issues and potentially explosive topics. Focusing on motherhood and its role in society, Guy Odom discusses a host of related topics, including reasons behind the success and persecution of the Jews, the decline in American IQ scores, the failure of the drug war, and the future of America's children."

David C. McClelland, Ph.D.,
Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
Distinguished Professor, Boston University
author of The Achieving Society and Power: The Inner Experience:

"This book represents a tremendous scholarly enterprise. I found it fascinating... He has been very imaginative in thinking of consequences of his major thesis and energetic in checking out those consequences. Needless to say I thought the treatment of the hereditarians' arguments excellent."

Wayne H. Holtzman, Ph.D.,
President, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health
Hogg Professor of Psychology and Education
The University of Texas at Austin:

"Guy Odom has amassed an impressive array of evidence supporting his thesis that maternal dominance is of crucial importance in the rearing of high-achieving individuals. His concept of maternal dominance as an overlooked influence on individual leadership and success is both original and brilliant... At once scholarly and provocative, Odom's analysis and interpretation should stimulate wide debate regarding the rise (and fall?) of American society."

The Book Reader ,

"Odom asks rich questions and he gives rather remarkable answers... This is an extremely readable book because Odom doesn't write in an academic jargon and isn't afraid to make inspiring statements or forecasts of doom... Odom is quite simply a latter-day Oswald Spengler with his breathtaking predictions and insights that proudly fly in the face of the dull, timid modernity."

Kenneth E. Boulding,
Distinguished Professor of Economics, Emeritus
Institute of Behavioral Science
The University of Colorado at Boulder
author of Ecodynamics and Three Faces of Power:

"I do think this is a very stimulating book that will make people think. It will make some of them mad. Societies do change over time through very complex processes, and I think the author puts his finger on a very important process in possible changes in child rearing. The fundamental question which this book raises, on the nature of the effect of family and child rearing on the history of the economy, is very real and has received far too little attention from social scientists. The critical question here is: How do we encourage, through our ethical standards and even through government policy, the development of a culture of learning, both in which the field of human knowledge is constantly widened and in which error becomes unstable?"

Victor Goertzel, Ph.D.,
retired Research and Clinical Psychologist
author of Cradles of Eminence and 300 Eminent Personalities:

"I have read Mothers, Leadership, and Success in its entirety and portions of it several times. It is stimulating and provocative. I admire you for producing such a learned work with such clearly presented convictions... As the son of non-believing immigrant Jews, I was especially interested in your provocative observations on Jews and on the kibbutz."

Richard W. Riley,
U.S. Secretary of Education
former Governor of South Carolina:

"As our country grapples with education reform and searches for the key to producing successful citizens, Guy Odom's provocative ideas in Mothers, Leadership, and Success provide a fascinating insight. It is my belief that his ideas will stimulate debate and provide tools that enhance the quest for solutions and strategies in this important moment in our history."

The Honorable Geraldine Ferraro,

"As I am, by Guy Odom's definition, a 'dominant woman,' I can personally identify with parts of Mothers, Leadership, and Success. His conclusions are not always mine, but he raises issues that are critcal to modern-day American culture. The work is not only thoughtful, but thought-provoking. Guy Odom exhibits remarkable knowledge, as well as appreciation, of the influence of history on current problems facing us as a nation. He obviously cares a good deal about our future."

Lucile M. Ware, M.D.,
Director, PreSchool Day Treatment Center and Staff Child Psychiatrist
Menninger Clinic, Topeka, KS:

"I can only hope that it will be taken very seriously by many and become a catalyst for much needed changes in our national policies toward children and education... Odom's hypothesis about dominant mothers being the ones who rear children geared to achieve and become successful, presents to my mind exciting opportunities to further study the dynamics of mother-child relationships, as well as family interaction patterns."

Debbie N. Pepin,
Times-Union, Albany, NY:

"Odom writes on controversial topics--education, role of mothers, elitism, decline of the United States and a host of others... [It] should be read by everyone who is concerned about the future of our children and our nation."

Gary G. Mowery,
Lock Haven Express, Lock Haven, PA:

"Bigots will not like this book, nor will traditionalists whose minds have already ossified."

John M. Daggett, Ph.D.,
Ashland Daily Tidings, Ashland, OR:

"[Odom] does not believe that any improvement in the educational system will have much significance in improving the overall strength of our culture if child-training practices have not laid the foundation for intellectual growth... I heartily recommend this book to anybody interested in rethinking some of the fundamental issues of our time, especially people involved in psychology, sociology, child rearing, education, government, politics or economics."

Thomas E. Truitt, Ed.D.,
The News & Shopper, Florence, SC:

"I am not sure you would enjoy reading the book. You would find it informative and provocative."

Ralph B. Pearce,
The Baytown Sun, Baytown, TX:

"...grabs one's sense of history with both hands and step-by-step wrings it dry of commonly accepted political triumphs and aberrations, military victories and defeats, and forms of government. He skillfully overlays the remaining skeleton of history with a seemingly simple cause-and-effect transparency that might very well, in time to come, be recognized and recited as Odom's Law."

Ronald E. Etheridge, Ed.D.,
The Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, OH:

"Many of its ideas run against the accepted grain, and some specialists may resent the invasion of their jealously guarded field by a non-specialist... But who ever learned anything worth learning without controversy?"

James Akenhead, Ed.D.,
The Alliance Review, Alliance OH:

"Odom clearly isn't running for public office. Many things that he talks about in his book tend to shake people up."

Alonzo A. Crim, Ed.D.,
Professor of Educational Administration, Benjamin E. Mays Chair
Georgia State University
Former Superintendent, Atlanta, Georgia, School District:

"I found it necessary to read Guy Odom's book twice, my first reading left me so disturbed. My second reading was intended to allay my fears but they were intensfied. Odom has described with clarity why we Americans feel uneasy about our nation. He argues persuasively it will not get better if we don't effect changes. He does not leave us without hope or direction, but he warns us that the time is short. This is must reading for all of us but it is especially pertinent for persons who are engaged in human services and for persons who work with and develop social policies."

David W. Magill, Ed.D.,
Reading Eagle, Reading, PA:

"The influence of nature vs. nurture on human development has been debated in educational circles for years. Perhaps the strongest argument for the influence of nurture has been advanced by Guy Odom... At the very least, I will thank my own mother for the dominance she exhibited as I was being reared!"

Donald E. Beineman, Ed.D.,
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, NJ:

"...a good look at problems that have plagued nations throughout history, but from the perception of one who views these problems in a different way--from a concentrated look at dominance and from concentration on the achievements of women."

Frank P. Tota, Ed.D.,
Roanoke Times & World-News, Roanoke, VA:

"If widely read and taken seriously, Odom's ideas could be a topic of discussion at universities, in churches and among parents in taking another look at child-rearing practices and at that single component which may set the stage for all future learning and behavior--mothers."

Raymond L. Fatheree, Ph.D.,
The Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, IN:

"This book was not written just for women, but it carries a strong message to high achieving and career-oriented working mothers."

Robert N. Fortenberry, Ed.D.,
The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS:

"Those social scientists who believe that children are predetermined by genetic inheritance to succeed or fail in school and in life should be ashamed to have published such nonsense. It is education that makes the difference and, most important, it is the education and training that occurs early in life in the home."

Robert P. Brezina,
The Victoria Advocate, Victoria, TX:

"Guy Odom should be commended for putting his controversial thoughts in writing."

Lucien R. Trouchon,
Wyoming State Tribune, Cheyenne, WY:

"Guy R. Odom in his interesting and provocative book, Mothers, Leadership, and Success, may be the initiator of the revolution required to effect significant educational reform."

Kenneth Ross,
Idaho World, Idaho City, ID:

"It was interesting to read how Guy Odom tied nations so tightly to their leaders who in turn were tied so tightly to the child-rearing practices of their dominant mothers."

William C. Symons, Jr., Ed.D.,
The Daily Times, Maryville, TN:

"Stephen King writes scary books of fiction; Odom has written a scary book about our reality. I would encourage anyone interested in the future of our country to read this book. We all need to question how long we can live the affluent life without sacrifice."

Christine Watson,
Santa Cruz Sentinel, Santa Cruz, CA:

"Odom's fascinating, interdisciplinary work looks at intelligence testing; marriage partner combinations that promote success; how dominant vs. nondominant personalities queue a society for expansion or decline; and even how it is possible for a poorly-educated single-mother to raise a more successful child than a rich man who can afford to send his offspring to the finest universities."

Lincoln Napton,
Williston Daily Herald, Williston, ND:

"The heroes of declining nations are always the same--the athlete, the singer or the actor."

Burl Bartlett,
Woodward News, Woodward, OK:

"Thank you Guy Odom...I think."