Promises to Keep: Decline and Renewal of Marriage in America

(Paperback)

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Description

This collection of essays by prominent lawyers, theologians, social scientists, policy makers, and activists examines the reasons why the once treasured institution of marriage has been steadily displaced by a culture of divorce and unwed parenthood. Promises to Keep presents the full text of The Council on Families in America's 1995 investigation, Marriage in America: A Report to the Nation, and the contributors provide suggestions for marital resurrection to counteract trends that have created tragic hardships for children, generated poverty within families, and burdened us with insupportable social costs. Sponsored by The Institute for American Values.

Reviews

An enormous contribution by an impressive set of family scholars. Promises to Keep is packed with information and should be 'must reading' for family researchers, students, religious leaders, mental health professionals and policy makers. -- Howard J. Markman, author of Fighting For Your Marriage
A challenging set of recommendations which, if heeded, could profoundly and positively impact our culture. -- Dr. David L. Ferguson, Executive Director, Center for Marriage & Family Intimacy
A rousing, long-overdue call for public action. -- Brigitte Berger, Boston University
This volume, with its emphasis on making marriage work in the social context of the 1990s, will undoubtedly move the strained public conversation over the issue of marriage to a higher plane of seriousness. -- Don Eberly, founder of the National Fatherhood Initiative and Director of the Civil Society Project
It [is a] pleasure to read these arguments made by serious and concerned scholars on a topic as central as the health of the institution of marriage. * American Journal of Sociology *
An important contribution to a critical debate. * Choice Reviews *
This book is important especially for councelors, pastors and others in leadership positions who shape ministry and policy. * The Lamplighter *

Author Bio

David Popenoe is professor of sociology and associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University.

Jean Bethke Elshtain is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of social and political ethics at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and the author of numerous books on women, politics, and the family.

David Blankenhorn is the president of the Institute for American Values.