Joined at the Heart: The Transformation of the American Family [Hardcover]

Tipper Gore (Author), Al Gore (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 12, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0805068937 | ISBN-13: 978-0805068931 | Edition: First Edition

Former Vice President and bestselling author Al Gore collaborates with his wife, Tipper, on a groundbreaking book about the changing face of the American family

Al and Tipper Gore have long considered family their bedrock. They've also spent many years studying the American family, and now, in this provocative and personal book, they explore the myriad ways in which the idea of family is being redefined.

Over the past two generations, cultural shifts and economic pressures have profoundly affected every family in the nation: balancing work and family now poses a bigger challenge than ever before, day-care and after-school child care programs are too often dangerously inadequate, and new technological advancements have dramatically changed the ways we communicate. But if many of the traditional landmarks by which families formerly steered their course have disappeared, change has also opened up exciting possibilities, yielding an explosion of new family forms and novel solutions to age-old problems.

In this penetrating and moving exploration of the contemporary family landscape, the Gores share stories drawn from their own experiences, as well as introduce us to a dozen other families they have come to know over the years. Combining personal insight and expert opinions, historical and global perspectives, Joined at the Heart identifies an emerging reality-and demonstrates that, in the face of unprecedented change, the inherent need for family is stronger than ever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"For us, as for most Americans," write the former vice-president and his wife, "family is our bedrock, and we believe the strength of the American family is the nation's bedrock." But the American family has changed substantially in the last half century and so have the cultural and economic conditions under which it exists. The families the Gores have encountered in a decade of research reflect these changes: one couple has children from the husband's three different relationships, a gay white couple adopts two black children, a single mother struggles with poverty. The couple add stories from their own marriage and consult with historians, sociologists, psychologists and educators, giving the American family the same comprehensive treatment Al's Earth in the Balance gave the environment. Al and Tipper examine subjects as diverse as the increased divorce rate, the parent-teen gap, dual-income households and the health problems associated with sleep deprivation. They divide the book into themes, including love, communication, work, play and community, and show how these factors influence one another, taking a holistic approach to the underlying problems affecting today's families. Yet although they declare America should "provide every possible support to those most important to us," they make very few firm recommendations on government policy; those reading with an eye toward identifying planks in another Gore presidential campaign will have their work cut out for them. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Coauthoring this very readable work, the Gores affirm their respect and support for culturally and structurally variant American families, loving individuals committed to each other's welfare. Based on personal experiences and interviews with others in traditional and nontraditional relationships, the authors offer a sampling of caring individuals struggling to balance family, work, play, and community to support one another, adults and children, together with the future of this country. The Gores relate these families' experiences to the environments in which they live, offering a critique of the social programs needed to support successful family life: affordable shelter, reliable and competent child care, pre- and post-school time supervised activities, employee family-leave provisions, well-run community facilities, and services for all age levels. They argue that it is increasingly critical to maintain and grow our country's various sources of "social capital," to understand and support families, the too often unacknowledged vital units of our American society. This convincing, multiresourced work is recommended for public and academic library purchase. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/02; also released this November is The Spirit of the Family, a photography book edited by the Gores.-Ed.]-Suzanne W. Wood, formerly with SUNY Coll. of Technology at Alfre.
--Suzanne W. Wood, formerly with SUNY Coll. of Technology at Alfred
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; First Edition edition (November 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805068937
• ISBN-13: 978-0805068931
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,418,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Former Vice President Al Gore is co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management. He is also a senior partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and a member of Apple, Inc.'s board of directors.

Gore spends the majority of his time as chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit devoted to solving the Climate Crisis.

Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years. During the Administration, Gore was a central member of President Clinton's economic team. He served as President of the Senate, a Cabinet member, a member of the National Security Council and as the leader of a wide range of Administration initiatives.

He is the author of the bestsellers Earth in the Balance, An Inconvenient Truth, The Assault on Reason, and Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. He is the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary and is the co-recipient, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for "informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A wandering path... December 17, 2002

By John Zxerce

Format:Hardcover

I was shocked and truly disappointed when the Gores decided not to run in '04. However, I was also disappointed in this book of theirs.

The Gores write about how the 'family' is changing, but they don't really define what `family' is. In other words, what is essential to 'family' which cannot change? What is necessary? Are college roommates 'family'? Are co-workers 'family'? Are people who ride the bus together 'family'? I think the Gores fail to make a distinction between the `family' and `community' -- possibly in the hopes of being all-inclusive. As a result, they're political correctness ends up turning the entity of the family into a watery, vanilla mush.

An additional disappointment was that the Gores make very few suggestions/recommendations on how to improve or strengthen the family. They site statistics and problems, but no answers. That's frustrating. They spent an entire book on the subject, but don't have any solutions?

The Gores explore many ways in which the idea of family is being redefined. However, I wish they had explained why some of those changes are 'bad' and some are 'good'. That is, day-care is viewed as bad, but alternative family make-up is viewed as good. What are they using to determine their what the family should be? Is it personal preference? Is it unchangable principle? Is it polling data? This is unclear.

In short, this book is little more than a few personal experiences and some general observations. It could have been so much more.

21 of 30 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Wanted to see what all the fuss was about December 7, 2002

By "debcee"

Format:Audio Cassette

After reading such widely-divergent reviews, I had to see what was really "stirring the pot" here. The book was curiously disappointing; I kept hoping for more substance, something more than easy platitudes about what the American family means. Is this the place that the family-oriented Mr. and Mrs. Gore have come in their lives, a place where there are no fresh ideas or solutions? While some of the descriptions were intended to be and did appear tender, I was bothered by the selectivity, thinking of the families whose stories weren't represented here. (Actually, I was more impressed by the sincerity of the Tipper Gore who stood up to big record companies in the name of family values to stop profane and violent lyrics, than the one who co-wrote this book.) Unfortunately, this effort seems to straddle between being for family values and an apologia for those who would erode the standards that "family values" require. I didn't hate it, but it didn't engage me either.

26 of 38 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars The grass is greener on the Cosby Show, too December 7, 2002

By D. Friedman

Format:Hardcover

Al Gore and his fawning wife aim to create a portrait of the family as a way of establishing his street cred should he decide to (hopefully, for the benefit of his Republican benefactors) run for president again. Simply put the book is a naive, sentimental and sentenetious ode to piousness. The piousness to which I allude here is not piousness in the religious sense, but rather piousness to Democrats' ideals: equality, egalitarianism, sentiment, romance, et cetera. While his views on homosexuals are admirable and slightly interesting, so much of his words are strained and so much of his prose is calculated that the book ought not be called 'Joined At the Heart', but, rather, ought to be a play on Jack Welch's 'Straight from the Gut': 'Straight from a Political Consultant.' If you have ever heard a spin doctor try to contextualize a flippant remark made by a politician (think Ari Fleischer covering up for a gaffe by Paul O'Neill) you will have an idea of the mess that is this book. It tries to appease every constituency except that of the far right and offend none and in doing so devolves into a depressing mediocrity that is at the abject center of Democrats' listlessness in recent elections. Save yourself the money and buy a book by Dr. Seuss if you want insight into the nature of the world.

29 of 43 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Silly socialism January 28, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

Are you kidding, this vomit should be banned from the reading list of any sentient human, especially American humans. Their portrayal of "family" is a joke. These folks are disfunctional at a basic level and they're merely trying to turn political noteriety and a liberal TV media soapbox into cash, while people still remember their names.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm glad it was a gift...not worth the money. December 10, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I read the book with an open mind, but in the end, I could not escape the conclusion that politicians do not make the best sociologists. As for organization and logical presentation of materials - It was not stellar and there was way too much political drivel and platform pushing to really qualify the book as a resource about family. On a side note, I was surprised to learn that a book claiming to be an all encompassing book about family did not refer to, quote or use any information from Dr. James Dobson from Focus on the Family. Seems he meets all the requirements as an expert on the family. The book was just too political for my leisure time reading.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Shows Tolerance is Big Issue April 27, 2004

By Jeffrey C Mc Andrew

Format:Hardcover

This was a wonderfully refreshing book. It's so important to teach our children tolerance in this day and age where there is too much competition, warfare and discrimmination. I hope my son Ryan reads this book some day and realizes that what the Gores are saying is not just politically correct garbage as the extremist republicans would say. The message in this book is similar to what Ghandi meant when he said "All men are brothers." In elementary school, my son got an award for friendship and tolerance. I would hope some bigots and racists in this country who fail to see we are all one family would start to get it. Jesus commanded us to love one another.

This book took guts to write, and I'm proud of the Gores.