Public and Private Families: An Introduction, with Free PowerWeb

Nationally recognized for its sound scholarship and balanced approach and written by one of the leading authorities in the field, Public and Private Families, 3/e examines the family through two lenses, the familiar private family in which we live most of our personal lives, and the public family in which we, as adults, deal with broader societal issues such as the care of the elderly, the increase in divorce, and childbearing outside of marriage. Consequently the book looks both at intimate personal concerns, such as whether to marry, as well as societal concerns, such as governmental policies that affect families

Andrew J. Cherlin is Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. He received a B.S. from Yale University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1976. He is the author of the McGraw-Hill textbook, Public and Private Families: An Introduction. His other books include Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage (revised and enlarged edition, 1992), Divided Families: What Happens to Children when Parents Part (with Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 1991), The Changing American Family and Public Policy (1988), and The New American Grandparent: A Place in the Family, A Life Apart (with Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., 1986). In 1989-1990 he was Chair of the Family Section of the American Sociological Association. In 1999, he was President of the Population Association of America. Professor Cherlin is a recipient of a MERIT (Method to Extend Research in Time) Award from the National Institutes of Health for his research on the effects of family structure on children. His recent articles include "Stepfamilies in the United States: A Reconsideration," in the Annual Review of Sociology; “Going to Extremes: Family Structure, Children’s Well-Being, and Social Science,” in Demography; “Effects of Parental Divorce on Mental Health throughout the Life Course,” in the American Sociological Review; and “I’m OK, You’re Selfish,” in The New York Times Magazine. He also has written many short articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and other periodicals. He has been interviewed on ABC News Nightline, the Today Show, network evening news programs, National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and other news programs and documentaries.