The author reopens the politically incorrect question of just how much children need their parents, especially their mothers. She contends that absent parents--and children who feel like just another chore to be outsourced--are the common denominator of recent epidemics among young people, including obesity, STDs, behavioral problems such as attention deficit disorder, and the use of psychiatric medication in even very young children; and asks whether this trend has already reached a tipping point in American society.

Kevin's day has gotten off to a bad start, his family accidentally forgot him when they went to Paris for the holidays.

Caught in the Crossfire reveals how the United States has been gradually changing from a society that celebrates childhood into one that is hostile to and afraid of its own children. Today kids are often seen as a threat to our social and moral values. In schools, some behavior is criminalized, and growing numbers of kids find themselves in penal and psychiatric confinement. This breakdown is often too readily attributed to bad parenting, the crisis of the family, or the greed of capitalism. Grossberg offers a new and original understanding of the changes transforming contemporary America, and of the choices Americans face about their future. He documents the relations between economic ideologies and economic realities and explores what is going on in the "culture wars" as well as on the Internet and other new media. Caught in the Crossfire argues that all of these changes and tn struggles, including those involving the state of kids, only make sense as integral parts of a larger transformation to define America's uniqueness and to develop its own sense of modern culture. Part of the Cultural Politics and the Promise of Democracy Series.

This work examines American sport from its traditional roots to the influence of the 1960s-era counterculture and the rise of a post-Cold War ethos that reinterprets competition as a relic of a misbegotten past and anathema to American life.

The American family has long been at the centre of the typical Hollywood narrative. But the depiction of the nuclear family within contemporary mainstream US cinema has not yet been closely studied. Home Movies addresses this oversight by assessing recent cinematic representations of the family in terms of cultural politics and representations of gender, sexuality, race and class. Focusing on a diverse range of popular films - from Meet the Parents to The Incredibles - Claire Jenkins analyses the father-daughter relationship within sequels and series; Meryl Streep's embodiment of the mother; the superhero family and extraordinary manifestations of the ordinary family; disaster films which depict the president as father; 'mom-coms' and Hollywood's representations of the non-traditional family. She combines film studies, gender studies and family history to demonstrate the complexities of Hollywood's family values.

Mr. Hatfield with all of his years of experience in marriage, parenting, family, missions and in the Church pulls no punches in calling Christ's Bride to return to His Truth (God's revealed Law-Word) regarding discipleship (men and women of faith and grace) in Manhood and Womanhood, outrageously successful spousal relations, parenting with training in romance, sexual satisfaction, love and marriage! He is calling all believers, especially men, to confession and repentance and to receive, understand and apply these Truths in the Power of the Holy Spirit as the only acceptable response in which God will revive and reform the Family and the Church in the 21st Century! Not for the weak-kneed, weak-minded or humanistically influenced, this is for Christ's Bride as we prepare for and anticipate His return! These applications of God's revealed Law-Word and His uncommon common sense in the lives of America's postmodern Christian culture and especially the promise of duplicating of these successes for love and marriage in our children, is exciting and challenging to the point of precedent setting magnitudes. The reader will experience riveting and exciting challenges to the status quo of our present day Christian culture. "Based on interviews with more than 1000 adults nationwide, the survey discovered that less than one out of every five adults believes that children under the age of 13 are being "superbly" or "pretty well" prepared for life emotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually or physically. Fewer than one out of every twenty adults believes that America's youngsters are receiving above average preparation in all five of those areas of life." Americans Agree: "Kids Are Not Being Prepared for Life," The Barna Group-October 26, 2004 The couples, who discover the answers to the moral morass of our postmodern Christian culture, are those who know that the future of their children is in jeopardy and that we are in a war for the control of that future! Sadly, the statistics of broken homes, divorces, adultery, domestic violence, drugs and promiscuity - to mention only some of the ills of our culture - are almost equally divided between "Christian" families and non-Christian families. This is unacceptable as a comparison and must change. Consequently, fathers and mothers of faith and grace are those - who are and or who will experience - God's promise of victory over these fruits of our fallen nature and live a marriage experience that captures the best of God's gifts of love, sex and romance in marriage. Daddy's Little Girl and Mommy's Little Boy brings us clear evidence of just how America's Christian couples can have this victory in their marriage and how to duplicate this success in their sons and daughters.