A Better World for Our Children: Rebuilding American Family Values [Library Binding]

Benjamin, M.D. Spock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

"Heartfelt and hopeful. And coming from a person who's spent a long lifetime caring about children, it is a refreshingly authoritative call to action".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Unlike some of Dr. Spock's 16 previous books, this one does not offer specific advice about children for their parents. Instead, the venerable Spock (Baby and Child Care), now 91, writes in support of "spiritual values," expounds on what he considers the decline of life in America, and suggests ways of reversing that trend for the benefit of everyone-and their children. Some symptoms of bad times, in Spock's opinion: a spirit of competition that ultimately harms workers and the workplace; and violence as a pervasive theme in American entertainment. Some of his points are well-taken, others crankily familiar: for instance, he cautions us on the dangers of secondary cigarette smoke inhalation. Spock also strikes a conservative note, as when he complains that a habit of informal dressing is innately antisocial. However, his conversational pitch for idealism (and against cynicism) is basically convincing and sometimes heartening.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Spock must be doing something right. He's 91, in excellent health, and married to a woman 40 years his junior. One thing he doesn't think most Americans do is raise their children right. As a pediatrician, he has written several books on the care and feeding of children that have become the Bible for child rearing. In this new work, he concentrates more on the care and nourishing of the child's soul than on the body. Spock offers lots of good information on how to build real families, not just a group of people living together. He suggests sitting down to dinner together, taking hikes, playing games, and running for political office as ways of helping our country revert from a moral system based on the almighty dollar to one based on good ethical values. Spock does not pretend to know all of the answers, but he hopes that his book will inspire people to talk about changes and do their part to bring them about. He sounds like the best grandpa anyone could have.
Belinda J. Pugh, Kings Bay Base Lib., Ga.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Library Binding: 207 pages
• Publisher: Contemporary Books (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809231875
• ISBN-13: 978-0809231874
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,892,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Benjamin Spock, M.D., practiced pediatrics in New York City from 1933 to 1947. He then became a medical teacher and researcher at the Mayo Clinic, the University of Pittsburgh, and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The author of eleven books, he was a political activist for causes that vitally affect children: disarmament, day care, schooling, housing, and medical care for all. He had two sons, a stepdaughter, and four grandchildren. Dr. Spock, who died March 15, 1998, at age ninety-four, was married to Mary Morgan. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care has been translated into thirty-nine languages and has sold fifty million copies worldwide since its first publication in 1946.