Named one of “40 Gifts for the Book Lover on Your List,” by Good Housekeeping: The definitive book about Joan Rivers’ tumultuous, victorious, tragic, hilarious, and fascinating life.

Joan Rivers was more than a legendary comedian; she was an icon and a role model to millions, a fearless pioneer who left a legacy of expanded opportunity when she died in 2014. Her life was a dramatic roller coaster of triumphant highs and devastating lows: the suicide of her husband, her feud with Johnny Carson, her estrangement from her daughter, her many plastic surgeries, her ferocious ambition and her massive insecurities.

But Rivers’ career was also hugely significant in American cultural history, breaking down barriers for her gender and pushing the boundaries of truth-telling for women in public life. A juicy, intimate biography of one of the greatest comedians ever — a performer whose sixty year career was borne, simply, out of a desire to make people laugh so she could feel loved — Last Girl Before Freeway delves into the inner workings of a woman who both reflected and redefined the world around her.

Women are constantly being told that it’s simply too difficult to balance work and family, so if they don’t really “have to” work, it’s better for their families if they stay home. Not only is this untrue, Leslie Bennetts says, but the arguments in favor of stay-at-home motherhood fail to consider the surprising benefits of work and the unexpected toll of giving it up. It’s time, she says, to get the message across–combining work and family really is the best choice for most women, and it’s eminently doable.

Bennetts raised two children while earning a living, and understands the challenges and the rewards firsthand. She and millions of other working women provide ample proof that there are many different ways to have kids, maintain a challenging career, and have a richly rewarding life as a result. When women sacrifice their financial autonomy by quitting their jobs, they become vulnerable to divorce as well as the potential illness, death, or unemployment of their breadwinner husbands. The truth is that when women gamble on dependency, most eventually end up on the wrong side of the odds.

Not since Betty Friedan has anyone offered such an eye-opening and persuasive argument for why women can–and should–embrace the joyously complex lives they deserve.