Life without Father: Compelling New Evidence That Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indispensable for the Good of Children and Society [Paperback]

David Popenoe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1999

The American family is changing. Divorce, single parents, and stepfamilies are redefining the way we live together and raise our children. Is this a change for the worse? David Popenoe sets out the case for fatherhood and the two-parent family as the best arrangement for ensuring the well-being and future development of children.

His argument has two critical assumptions, which he supports with evidence from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, and history. The first is that children flourish best when raised by a father and a mother with their differing psychological and behavioral traits. The second is that marriage, which serves to hold fathers to the mother-child bond, is an institution we must strengthen if the decline of fatherhood is to be reversed.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Popenoe follows in the footsteps of David Blankenhorne's Fatherless America (LJ 1/95) with this second major study of American fatherhood. The author, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, is also cochair of the Council on Families in America. Popenoe's research findings on fatherlessness parallel many of Blankenhorne's. Most notably, children from single-parent families are more prone to poverty, juvenile delinquency, and dropping out of school than their two-parent counterparts. The chief cause: lack of a father role model and difficulties of single-parent supervision. While the author does not negate the value of substitute father figures as does Blankenhorne, he concurs there should be a reversal of the "new family" trend back to traditional nuclear families, with strong emphasis on fatherhood and marriage as basic cultural fundamentals. Popenoe concludes that fathers are indispensable for children and society and that the growing rate of fatherlessness is a looming disaster. Essential for public and academic libraries.?Michael A. Lutes, Univ. of Notre Dame Libs., Ind.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Every unhappy family may be unhappy in its own way, but a common denominator of familial misery is an absent father. To convert doubters of that proposition, sociologist Popenoe offers conclusions pulled from empirical studies, which overlay his frequent enunciation of the child's viewpoint: don't most kids in single-mother households prefer, if given a choice, also having a good father in the family? That 40 percent don't have one occupies Popenoe's search for the root of the problem, which takes him on a historical excursion through the American family from Puritan patriarchy to contemporary patterns of self-defined families. In contemporary patterns, Popenoe detects a source of fatherlessness in "radical individualism." Lest some readers recoil from that thesis, Popenoe takes pains not to idealize the Victorian or the 1950s nuclear family: he admits their stifling aspects but also insists that the responses to them--easy divorce and the elimination of social sanctions against illegitimacy--ineluctably lead to current rates of fatherlessness. Stern but readable analysis similar to David Blankenhorn's Fatherless America (1995). Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674532600
• ISBN-13: 978-0674532601
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Popenoe has written a vital book on fatherhood., June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Life without Father: Compelling New Evidence That Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indispensable for the Good of Children and Society (Paperback)

With all of the various problems associated with the youth of our country - violence, drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy, lower academic achievements, etc. - it is time that we consider how fathers can make a positive difference. Popenoe makes a strong case using authentic, supportive evidence for his conclusions about the unique contributions of father and the need to restore marriage. Even with research citations, the book is not difficult to read except for the pain of perhaps "having your toes stepped on". But Popenoe manages to do this with tact and honesty as well as offer comprehensive solutions in which everyone can participate to help our nation's children. I would recommend this book whether you are a parent, educator, or in some other profession involving children and families.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The importance of fatherhood, January 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Life Without Father (Hardcover)

Author marshals significant amount of factual and statisical information to justify the importance of intact families. The subject matter is "politically incorrect" considering that any group of disparate individuals may call themselves a family now days but Popenoe argues persuasively that the best conditions for raising emotionally healthy children are in families units containing the biological father. He also uses the emerging field of evolutionary psychology to bolster his arguments. Try bringing up the topic of importance of biological fathers with your acquaintances to find out how loaded this subject is.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very accessible and informative, July 16, 2009

By 

C. Hicks - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Life Without Father (Hardcover)

David Popenoe discusses the effects of children being raised in broken homes and clearly illustrates the research that indicates that children need the support of both biological parents. The book is accessible to the lay reader and is a real eye opener that many of the family policies adopted by the U.S. over the past half century are contributing factors for increases in child abuse and reduced child achievement in education. This was not only an enjoyable read, but and interesting one as well.