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: It replaced what he calls the premodern family, typified by the Puritans in America. Marriage in the premodern family was primarily an economic venture, and fathers and mothers worked together to earn an income and raise their children. Popenoe calls the premodern family the "apogee of fatherhood" (89), in which fathers were the central authority figure in the household and were viewed as the primary parent of children. Popenoe considers World War II to have had an ambiguous impact on the status of fatherhood, for while it stressed the vital importance of the protector role, it also showed that millions of women and children were able to get along just fine while fathers were away for months or years at a time. Many factors came together to end the premodern family and establish the modern nuclear family. As men left home to work in new industrial jobs, the majority of childrearing was left to their wives. The rise of democratic individualism made the concept of a patriarchal father seem outdated. The Quakers put an end to the traditional belief in children's innate depravity, saying that their inherently good natures thrived not on stern fathering but on gentle, nurturant mothering. As the culture absorbed the many changes brought by an industrial, democratic world, courts began awarding child custody to mothers in the mid-19th century (97). While the position of men became more tenuous within the home, society still celebrated their roles as providers and protectors.