Customer Reviews

American Families: A Multicultural Reader

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent book for students of sociology, family history, human development or other fields that explore family life as it exists in our world today.
I especially appreciate how the author expands the reader's understanding of family forms from the common view of The Family as a mother/father, white, middle class, with two children "Ozzie and Harriot" stereotype to a more realistic understanding of the complexities of families in this country. I enjoyed reading stories that revealed how the factors of race, class, and gender effect families in our society. I also appreciated the inclusion of family stories that reveal the impact of historical contexts. For example, the stories from immigrants reveal how our society has historically valued labor as a means for profit over labor as a means to support families.
I didn't find the text to be overly academic, but rather fascinating, accessible and informative.

This really is an excellent book, full of really clear and well-organized information on some very important, often over-looked issues in sociology and family development issues. But I still found it a little too academic-oriented. Am looking for something more accessible to not-well-educated people I work with in my job, families who are not readers. Stories and content are useful to me, however, in a big way, as both a community-based worker and as a serious student of these types of "non-traditional" but very current issues. I appreciated the book alot, but it still isn't quite "earthy" enough to use with non-academically-oriented clients...other than via me telling them some of the real life "stories" encountered in the book. I give it three stars and wait for a second edition!

This really is an excellent book, full of really clear and well-organized information on some very important, often over-looked issues in sociology and family development issues. But I still found it a little too academic-oriented. Am looking for something more accessible to not-well-educated people I work with in my job, families who are not readers. Stories and content are useful to me, however, in a big way, as both a community-based worker and as a serious student of these types of "non-traditional" but very current issues. I appreciated the book alot, but it still isn't quite "earthy" enough to use with non-academically-oriented clients...other than via me telling them some of the real life "stories" encountered in the book. I give it three stars and wait for a second edition!