Synopsis
For students and general readers, Risman (U. of Illinois at Chicago) brings together 40 essays by members of the Council on Contemporary Families, an interdisciplinary community of historians, social scientists, and other experts who study and work with families, on how families operate in everyday life, how they got to where they are today, research on the topic, families and relationships in the twenty-first century, youth and social class in the twenty-first century, and the impact of the gender revolution. They incorporate new articles with the Council's Briefing Papers, press releases, and newspaper articles based on them and provide information meant to lead to better social policy. Topics include differences in childhood over the last three centuries, how professional African Americans pioneered the modern marriage, sex, cohabitation, same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, parenting, divorce, immigrant families, child care, children's poverty, men's contributions to the household, and gendered violence.
