Product Description

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, a white feminist, and Cornel West, a black human rights activist, join in a rare partnership to address the burning social issue of our time: the abandonment of America's parents. A "brave and personal book" (New York Post), The War Against Parents calls for a Parents' bill of Rights that gives new dignity to the parental role and restores our nation's commitment to the well-being of children.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #781719 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Library Journal
A feminist scholar and a noted African American intellectual argue that business, government, and the culture at large make raising children impossible.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A powerful call for parents to organize and fight back against a society that pays lip service to family values, then abandons mothers and fathers to an economic and political swamp. Both active in the National Parenting Association (Hewlett was a founder), the noted African-American studies and religion scholar West (Harvard; Race Matters, 1993, etc.) and economist Hewlett (When the Bough Breaks, 1991) make an eloquent case that since the 1960s, ``big business, government, and the wider culture have waged a silent war against parents.'' Beginning with reviews of their own childhoodsworking class, with close family and community tiesHewlett and West go on to point out how attitudes toward parents have changed since then. If the 1950s was a time of too-good-to-be-true Ozzies and Harriets, it was also an era of strong government and community support for families: The G.I. bill offered money for education and housing plus a subsidy for the families of veterans in school; jobs were plentiful and paid well; and workers were supported by strong labor unions. Beginning in the early 1970s, attitudes began to shift, with business and government taking a harder line toward workers and benefits. Tax breaks for families eroded; today, they claim, horses are more tax-deductible than children. Liberals come under fire for a commitment to ``untrammeled individualism'' that undermines the collective concern and self-sacrifice necessary for raising children. The authors also criticize the media (primarily television) and the child-welfare bureaucracy that finds it easier to take children away from their parents than to deal with the families problems. West and Hewlett hope to spark a parents movement that will lead to implementation of a ``Parents' Bill of Rights,'' including such items as paid parenting leave, a ``living wage,'' legal and moral support for fathers (for instance, in child custody disputes), and family health coverage. A potent presentation that may energize legislators and policymakers to end the ``war'' and reassess the needs of families. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
The authors demand understanding as well as legislation if parents are to overcome the huge obstacles our society has institutionalized. -- The New York Times Book Review, Lynn Karpen

Customer Reviews

Assessment of problem is on target; solutions are absurd
The book really should have been called "The War Against Children Brought On By Parents", a title which I would be inclined to agree with. The authors detail the havoc wreaked on children by the abdication of parental responsibility, time and love. True. But the authors say it's not the fault of parents themselves, but the economy or the government which make parents "unable" (an oft-used term in this book) to give children what they need. . The authors reach the elusive realization that our society is crumbling because children need their parents' attention, in a two-parent family. The most profound and true statement in the book comes early on: "At the heart of the matter is time, huge amounts of it, freely given. Whatever the child-raising technique, a child simply does better with loving, committed, long-term attention from both mom and dad." They then come to some baffling--in light of this truth--conclusions: year-round school and government-subsidized day care, among other things. The authors conclude that parents are economically unable to care for their children. and compare our day to the 1950's when tax credits favored families with children. I have news: the main thing that has changed from the 1950's to now is that baby boomers, a group which includes me, have come to expect a standard of living that our parents would have probably thought luxurious. I am a stay-at-home mother, married to the father of our children (what a concept!) who does it by working from home, shopping garage sales and thrift stores, and bulk cooking from each week's grocery sale items. Out there are truly desperate people in desperate situations, but most people I have ever encountered who thought they "could not" stay home with their children lived in twice the house we live in, shop at the mall, drive two new cars and use credit cards. I have known a few also who simply felt more "fulfilled" working than raising their children. I would love to hear from some of you out there who made raising your children your top priority and then found a way to make it happen. E-mail me at dorriegiroux@hotmail.com. I would love to hear from the authors of this book, too. I still recommend this book, as it is highly insightful and scholarly and does offer many useful recommendations, such as making divorce harder to come by and promoting adoption. However, I think its authors overlooked society's greatest problems: materialism and consumerism.

Neither liberal nor conservative
This book walks a hazardous line, neither liberal nor conservative, and it infuriates some and baffles others who insist on familiar dichotomies.

There's a litmus test for prospective readers, however: if you think parents should be as politically powerful as the AARP, read this book, and anything written or edited by either Hewlett or West. If you think current disparities between the top and bottom deciles in socioeconomic status in the U.S are about right, don't.

The War Against Parents - a review
If you are one of the politically hard-over types --left or right-- don't bother buying this book. This book is really for the open minded reader who is looking for an analytical and cautious approach to what ails us as a nation.

Systematically Cornell and Hewlett do that. They look at what worked in the past (when families seemed to be working for adults and children), and how that has changed to get us where we are today (latch key kids, high child suicide rates, high pregnancy rates). They point fingers at the far left and at the far right. They look at myth and truth and how often it is hard to discern which is which.

Some reviewers say they are liberal. Perhaps. But not so it matters. They certainly don't find much good to say about the programs of LBJ's Great Society, nor liberal divorce policies. Plus they argue for the importance of religion and parent-in-charge strategies in regards to child rearing, voting, and generally participating in society.

Four stars. If you are hard-over one way or another politically, ignore their arguments and just look at the data that Cornell and Hewlett have collected, then make up your own mind.

For the rest of you, this is a conscientious book that attempts to take a broad look at the problems that ail the American family today.