The Way We Really Are

Stephanie Coontz

ISBN 10: 0465090923 / ISBN 13: 9780465090921

Published by Basic Books, US, 1998

About this Item

Stephanie Coontz, the author of The Way We Never Were, now turns her attention to the mythology that surrounds today's family,the demonizing of untraditional" family forms and marriage and parenting issues. She argues that while it's not crazy to miss the more hopeful economic trends of the 1950s and 1960s, few would want to go back to the gender roles and race relations of those years. Mothers are going to remain in the workforce, family diversity is here to stay, and the nuclear family can no longer handle all the responsibilities of elder care and childrearing.Coontz gives a balanced account of how these changes affect families, both positively and negatively, but she rejects the notion that the new diversity is a sentence of doom. Every family has distinctive resources and special vulnerabilities, and there are ways to help each one build on its strengths and minimize its weaknesses.The book provides a meticulously researched, balanced account showing why a historically informed perspective on family life can be as much help to people in sorting through family issues as going into therapy,and much more help than listening to today's political debates.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780465090921

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Way We Really Are
• Publisher: Basic Books, US
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465090923
• ISBN 13: 9780465090921
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 4th Edition
• Condition: New
• Dimensions: 5W x 0.62H x 8D inches 5 inches width by 0.62 inches height by 8 inches depth

About this title

Synopsis

With a historically informed perspective, this classic book illuminates how every type of modern family—even the “nontraditional” ones—can find strength and success.

“Coontz’s book should offer reassurance to people in every kind of family muddling through every stressful stage.” ―New York Times 

Stefanie Coontz offers a guide to the causes and consequences of today’s family trends, demonstrating that a historically informed perspective can be as helpful in sorting through many family dilemmas as going into therapy and much more help than listening to today’s political debates. Every kind of family, Coontz shows, has strengths that can be fostered and vulnerabilities to be avoided. Stepfamilies, dual-earner couples, single-parent families, and divorced but cooperative families all operate in different ways, but with the right economic, cultural, and social support systems, all incarnations of the family can succeed.

Called “brilliant and invariably provocative” by the New York Times and “a treasure” by the Los Angeles Times, Stephanie Coontz has emerged as one of our preeminent social historians. The Way We Really Are will change the ways families think of themselves and their futures. 

About the Author

Stephanie Coontz is director of research and public education at the Council on Contemporary Families and emeritus faculty at Evergreen State College. She is the author of several books, including The Way We Never Were, Marriage: A History, A Strange Stirring, and For Better and Worse. She lives in Olympia, Washington.