Title: Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indispensable for Children and Society - The Hausvater Project
Headings: 
Book Reviews
Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indispensable for Children and Society
1. Fatherlessness
2. Fathers in History
3. Why Fathers Matter
4. Popenoe's Recommendations
Evaluation

Content: Fatherlessness
Life Without Father begins with an examination of the unprecedented growth of fatherlessness in twentieth-century America. This change, beginning in the 1960s, was dramatic and unexpected. The American family had been experiencing a golden age: " By 1960 more children were living with both their natural parents than at any other time in world history” (22). " As late as 1965 only one out of every thirteen births took place out of wedlock. Today [1996], nearly one out of every three does” (23). By 1974, more children were losing parents through divorce than through death (21). Just when improvements in life expectancy were allowing so many children to enjoy the company of both their parents, unexpected societal changes began to tear families apart. Over the past decades we have become sadly familiar with the fatherless family, to the point that very few people even question the concept of the "single mother." Fathers are considered an optional part of families.