Tomorrow Begins Today: African American Women As We Age.

* Tomorrow Begins Today: African American Women As We Age Edited by Cheryl Woodruff The National Council of Negro Women March 2006, $24.95, ISBN 0-976-54000-2

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is celebrating its 70th anniversary by publishing a book that calls itself a prescription to help women make their vision--for financial health, security and healthy living--a reality. According to Tomorrow Begins Today, edited by Cheryl Woodruff, one-third of the African American women in the United States are in the prime of their lives, from ages 35 to 59. These industrious women, in their key decision-making years, are living longer and more healthily than ever before; and they have more money and are more educated than ever before.

Based on real-life experiences collected from focus groups and national research, the book features expert advice and wisdom on topics ranging from health to finances to life satisfaction. It includes testimonies from such luminaries as Sheryl Hilliard Tucker, executive editor of Time, Inc.; Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Capital Management; and Dr. Vivian Pinn, the National Institutes of Health's director of the Office of Research on Women's Health.

This groundbreaking volume capitalizes on the mission of the Washington, D.C-based National Council of Negro Women, the oldest and largest assembly of African American women's organizations: "to lead, develop, and advocate for women of African descent as they support their families and communities."

--Reviewed by Ingrid Sturgis Ingrid Sturgis is the editor of Aunties: Thirty-Five Writers Celebrate Their Other Mother (Ballantine Books, 2004).