A study of how the traditional nuclear family has been supplanted by a variety of new relationships that are not defined by blood ties and traditional gender roles. The text explores the boundaries of the American family and the relationship between family and work.

In this sequel to the groundbreaking book I Won't Wait Up Tonight Williams gives families a compassionate, jargon-free guide to moving beyond the initial crisis of confronting chemical dependency. Using non-shaming language and engaging stories, the author presents practical ideas that can help families cope with day-to-day difficulties.

Brave New Families explores reproductive technologies from an evangelical viewpoint and identifies and organizes principles that cover bioethical issues. Rae bases considerations on biblical grounds and discusses such topics as surrogate motherhood, prenatal genetic testing, artificial insemination, and the moral status of fetuses and embryos.256 pp.

Brave New Stepfamilies maps the changing landscape of American stepfamilies, taking readers on a tour through the diverse assortment of traditional and not-so-traditional stepfamily forms that have emerged in recent years. Author Susan D. Stewart presents the latest scholarly research on stepfamilies in an accessible way, weaving together predominant theoretical perspectives, findings from research and national surveys, and interviews with stepfamily members.

`I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in the family, whether their interest is in constructs of "old" family values and morals, or in the "new" alternatives, and (possibly from a political point of view), threatening family. It provides food for thought for members of all these groups′ - Journal of Reproductive & Infant Psychology `The essays explore the increasing diversity, both for the study of sociology and for the wider political agenda′ - International Journal of Law and the Family Concern and debate over changes to family life have increased in the last decade, as a result of evolving employment patterns, shifting gender relations and more openness about sexual orientation. Most politicians and researchers have viewed these changes as harmful, suggesting that the family as an institution should not alter. The `New′ Family? challenges these dominant views. Leading academics in the field consider current diverse practices in families, and reveal the lack of balance between policies based on how families should be and how they actually are, illustrating the need for a broader definition of family. This book shows the need to take fluidity and change in family arrangements seriously, rather than simply seeing change as dangerous and undesirable.

A lively synthesis of early American history, now in its third edition. The Brave New World covers the entire span of early American history, from 30,000 years before Europeans landed on North American shores to the Revolutionary War. With its exploration of the places and peoples of early America, this comprehensive new edition of a classic textbook brings together the most recent scholarship on the colonial and revolutionary eras, Native Americans, slavery and the slave trade, politics, war, and the daily lives of ordinary people. In this edition, Peter Charles Hoffer incorporates the wealth of innovative work on early American history, including fresh material on • environmental history • the Dutch and French Caribbean • Indigenous societies • consumer goods • mapping • captivity tales • settler imperialism • power—who has it, who wants it, how it is expressed, and how it is opposed Emphasizing how diverse and entangled the early American imperial world was, this edition also greatly expands the geographical scope of the book. An updated bibliographic essay offering short descriptions of relevant books, articles, collections, and anthologies rounds out the volume. Wide-ranging and inclusive, The Brave New World continues to provide students, instructors, and historians with an engaging and accessible history of early North America.

This smart, provocative look at how the American Dream of single-family homes, white picket fences, and two-car garages became a lonely, overpriced nightmare explores how new trends in housing can help us live better. Over the past century, American demographics and social norms have shifted dramatically. More people are living alone, marrying later in life, and having smaller families. At the same time, their lifestyles are changing, whether by choice or by force, to become more virtual, more mobile, and less stable. But despite the ways that today's America is different and more diverse, housing still looks stuck in the 1950s. In Brave New Home, Diana Lind shows why a country full of single-family houses is bad for us and our planet, and details the new efforts underway that better reflect the way we live now, to ensure that the way we live next is both less lonely and more affordable. Lind takes readers into the homes and communities that are seeking alternatives to the American norm, from multi-generational living, in-law suites, and co-living to microapartments, tiny houses, and new rural communities. Drawing on Lind's expertise and the stories of Americans caught in or forging their own paths outside of our cookie-cutter housing trap, Brave New Home offers a diagnosis of the current American housing crisis and a radical re-imagining of future possibilities.

In recent years U.S. public policy has focused on strengthening the nuclear family as a primary strategy for improving the lives of America's youth. It is often assumed that this normative type of family is an independent, self-sufficient unit adequate for raising children. But half of all households in the United States with young children have two employed parents. How do working parents provide care and mobilize the help that they need? In Not-So-Nuclear Families: Class, Gender, and Networks of Care, Karen V. Hansen investigates the lives of working parents and the informal networks they construct to help care for their children. She chronicles the conflicts, hardships, and triumphs of four families of various social classes. Each must navigate the ideology that mandates that parents, mothers in particular, rear their own children, in the face of an economic reality that requires that parents rely on the help of others. In vivid family stories, parents detail how they and their networks of friends, paid caregivers, and extended kin collectively close the "care gap" for their school-aged children. Hansen not only debunks the myth that families in the United States are independent, isolated, and self-reliant units, she breaks new theoretical ground by asserting that informal networks of care can potentially provide unique and valuable bonds that nuclear families cannot.

In A Brave New World, Jess returns to her hometown of Warsend after surviving the devastating events of War's End: The Storm. She must rebuild her life and confront the demons of her past as she struggles to find love, family, and the strength to persevere in a dangerous world. Meanwhile, Chris grapples with his own longing for a family and home, as the threat of further conflict looms on the horizon. Can Jess overcome her fears and protect those she loves, or will the nightmares of her past consume her?

American evangelicals are known for focusing on the family, but the Quiverfull movement intensifies that focus in a significant way. Often called "Quiverfull" due to an emphasis on filling their "quivers" with as many children as possible (Psalm 127:5), such families are distinguishable by their practices of male-only leadership, homeschooling, and prolific childbirth. Their primary aim is "multigenerational faithfulness" - ensuring their descendants maintain Christian faith for many generations. Many believe this focus will lead to the Christianization of America in the centuries to come. Quivering Families is a first of its kind project that employs history, ethnography, and theology to explore the Quiverfull movement in America. The book considers a study of the movement's origins, its major leaders and institutions, and the daily lives of its families. Quivering Families argues that despite the apparent strangeness of their practice, Quiverfull is a thoroughly evangelical and American phenomenon. Far from offering a countercultural vision of the family, Quiverfull represents an intensification of longstanding tendencies. The movement reveals the weakness of evangelical theology of the family and underlines the need for more critical and creative approaches.