Embattled Paradise: The American Family in an Age of Uncertainty (Paperback)

Was there really a golden age of the family in the 1950s -- or ever? This important book probes and challenges our assumptions about the past present and future of the family. As Arlene Skolnick shows in her lucid synthesis of wide-ranging research that is at the core of Embattled Paradise any sensible account of the family must be about much more than the family. For several decades Skolnick has worked long and hard to create what amounts virtually to a canon for the sociology of families . -- Contemporary Sociology An enlightening and essentially optimistic look at American families and the seismic cultural shocks that have wrought profound changes in them during the past century.... Down with nostalgia up with reality....It won t be and never was anything like Ozzie and Harriet. -- Kirkus Reviews Skolnick s book is a useful antidote to the bleak rhetoric of loss and decline....Skolnick is able to put the current state of the family in its proper -- that is historical -- perspective. Her book should help nudge the public debate away from debilitating crisis-mongering . -- The Nation Intelligent provocative....Her meticulously documented and accessible examination sheds more light on the American family than any other book in recent memory . -- San Francisco Chronicle Embattled Paradise is a stunning achievement the most important and illuminating book about the family in years . -- Lillian Rubin author of Worlds of Pain In this clear-sighted and wise book Arlene Skolnick sets current tensions in American family life in rich social and historical perspective. Those who think about family life in the 1990s -- whether as participants in their own familiesor as makers of public policy affecting families -- will find Skolnick indispensable . -- Linda K. Kerber author of Women of the Republic