Book Description

The "triple crown" for today's father includes success at work, intimacy with family, and time for friends. Not unlike the false promise of "having it all" that women faced in the 1970s, this goal is nearly impossible to achieve. The pain of "never getting it right" can be felt across the nation. Others have described the malaise, but until now, no one has described this revolution or pointed to the light at the end of the tunnel. Journalist and feminist Suzanne Braun Levine, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, has interviewed scores of men and learned about the difficulties fathers face in parenting. Since men don't tend to use each other as sounding boards, Levine does it for them. Taking a lesson from the women's movement, she puts her finger on what makes it so hard for men to put family first. Readers will turn to Father Courage to discover what men are experiencing. At home, their parenting learning curve is steep, and moms don't want to give up the role of the General. The workplace is much less family-friendly to men, and the 24/7 life of corporate America takes its toll. Levine shows that fathers and mothers aren't crazy, but stressed, and she offers solutions that range from the commonsense to the revolutionary. This is a brilliant and bracing new look at what is right-and wrong-in American family life.

Amazon.com
Suzanne Braun Levine, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, gives voice to a largely unsung revolution--uplifting the nurturing role of men--in her wisely written first book, Father Courage. Observing, for instance, the trend of more and more fathers walking their children to school with a "profusion of pink and yellow and red cartoon-character backpacks slung over their shoulders," Levine notes that fatherhood is changing. And so begins her quest to investigate the often-contradictory challenges and motivations that grip and sometimes baffle today's fathers.

Using batteries of interviews with fathers from various walks of life, Levine shows how men--in the struggle to succeed at work and in parenthood--are reinventing what it means to be a father. Readers meet fathers who explore new ways of child rearing, split time with their wives to cover household chores, and cope with sacrifice when it comes to careers. Father Courage is both about and for these fathers, "who are discovering the pleasures of a dynamic relationship with their families" and who are "beginning to suspect that there are more men like themselves, although most are too busy putting one foot in front of the other to speak up."

Drawing from social science, anthropology, media, psychology, and many other sources, Father Courage wades into the currents of modern society, not only to recast our understanding of fatherhood, but to remind us that changes in fatherhood also alter motherhood and the very fabric of family life. This connection, deeply feminist at its core, explains why a woman would be invested in championing the rights of fathers. Levine even offers fathers a rallying cry: "Pick up your power," she says. "Use it to turn around the very institutions that are bestowing it on you." Why? Because as Gloria Steinem once put it, "You will never have a true democracy without democratic families to nurture it." --Byron Ricks

From Publishers Weekly
Can men have it all? Raised to be breadwinners and also nurturing parents, many contemporary fathers "disappoint those they mean to impress more than either would like." Levine has talked to fathers who are challenging "the traditional separation of church (home) and state (paid work)" about the rewards and frustrations of trying to co-parent. Frequently letting the men speak for themselves, she draws a convincing picture of an underground movement just waiting for the right moment to coalesce and set about the unfinished business of the women's movement: "It is all of a piece, the entry of women into the workplace and the integration of men into the family." Many fathers in this "transition generation" feel they face their difficulties alone and are surprised to find how many others are like them. From the birth experience at the hospital through the early months of parenthood and beyond, men often receive conflicting messages from society that encourage them to be supportive but not to get too closely involved in the dailiness of raising children. Women, too, are often unwilling to "relinquish the mystical powers attributed to motherhood" that is for many the only power they have. Levine also contends that a double standard in the workplace favors women who need to take time to be with their families but discourages men from putting family first. Writing at the "equity frontier" of "family politics," Levine provides a useful sourcebook for would-be revolutionaries and makes an eloquent plea for more public conversation about private pressures. Agent, Michael Carlisle; 10-city tour. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
According to this analysis, we have entered a new age of domestic relationships oriented toward shared parenting and household equality. A greater balance between work and family life should emerge and benefit society as a whole. However, the revolution has just begun, and pitfalls abound. Levine, a founding editor of Ms. and a former editor in chief of Columbia Journalism Review, blends an overview of current literature and interviews with twenty- to fortysomething-year-old men who are shaping the movement. Their attempts to integrate home and work life "seamlessly" despite skepticism from wives and co-workers are chronicled in a well-written, thoughtful, and entertaining narrative. Levine includes advice for those muddling through uncharted social terrain and presents policy perspectives on how institutions like schools might ease the burden on young families. A solid contribution to the family values debate from a feminist perspective, this book also provides an enlightening glimpse into the mindset of a select group of Generation X men. Recommended for public library parenting collections.
---Antoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Levine, a journalist and founding editor of Ms. magazine, interviewed a cross section of fathers of different races and economic backgrounds, all "trying to become the fathers they wish they had." Although she profiles couples, Levine focuses on the men to avoid the eye-rolling skepticism of their wives about the true extent to which the men are involved. That skepticism is one of the problems some men face as they seek deeper involvement in childrearing: wives who berate and second-guess their efforts at home. At work, men have far less institutional support for childrearing than women, despite more enlightened social policies. Leaving work early and taking paternal leave are still frowned on in corporate America. Levine's subjects talk about being sons of distant fathers and how, despite groups such as the Promise Keepers, American culture sends mixed messages about men being more engaged fathers. Levine also examines how feminism and other social trends are affecting men's attempts to balance careers and family responsibilities. Vanessa Bush

Gloria Steinem
Suzanne Levine's book is a smart, humane, nuanced look at the lives of men and women who are proving that men can do what women can do. It's the other half of the revolution. I think readers will welcome its inspiration with open arms.

Carol Gilligan
This wise and deeply serious book charts the next step forward. Levine's ear and eye for the telling phrase and detail make her a brilliant guide in a journey toward a world where men put family first and we all benefit.