"The Feminine Mystique" is a classic familiar to every woman reading, it is an integral part of the history of the women's liberation movement, it is part of world culture. The book became the first serious sociological study in the country of the social phenomenon that prevailed in post-war America and went under the slogans “back to home” or “back to family.” It provided a precise and scrupulous analysis of the reasons for this. With her characteristic passion, Betty accused everyone: sociologists and psychologists, professors and political figures who never ceased to assert that a woman’s role is only family and children. She argued that this is archaic, reactionary and completely deprives the second half of the human race to show their talents and realize hidden possibilities, which are completely crowded out by home and family. The book was polemical and somewhat controversial, but it became an immediate bestseller. According to Friedan's obituary published in The New York Times in 2006, The Feminine Mystique "gave the initial impetus to the modern women's movement in 1963 and, as a result, forever changed the structure of society in the United States and around the world" and "is considered by many to be one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century."