title: To Have and to Hold: Marriage, the Baby Boom, and Social Change
author:  Jessica Weiss 
description: Weiss has written an enlightening book that examines the dynamics of American families past and present. She uses the lens of popular culture to decipher the myth behind familial roles, and it is her use of popular culture that makes this books stand out from other works on the American family. The seven chapters that make up the crux of the book investigate such topics as gender roles in the 1950s, the baby boom, the changing role of fathers in American families, divorce, and the rise of feminism. Since Weiss is a historian (California State Univ., Hayward), she provides analyses of her arguments that are factual rather than emotive, and her use of family interviews further contributes to a strong presentation. Overall, this is a unique works because its multidisciplinary approach informs but never preaches on the emotionally charged topic of the American family. Recommended for public and academic libraries.<br /><i>- Sheila Devaney, Univ. of Georgia Libs. Athens, GA.</i><br />Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: Drifting into 
  Sex and Parenthood 
  without Marriage
  Isabel V. Sawhill
  GENERATION
  UNBOUND
  
  OVER HALF OF ALL BIRTHS to young 
  adults in the United States today occur outside 
  of marriage, and most are unplanned. This trend 
  is driving a growing class divide. At the top 
  are “planners,” who are marrying and having 
  children only after establishing a career.�At the 
  bottom—and increasingly in the middle—are 
  “drifters,” who are having unplanned children 
  early, outside of marriage, and without the 
  stable support of a second parent. This divide is 
  contributing to rising inequality and decreased 
  social mobility for both young parents and  
  their children. 
  The political right calls for a return to traditional 
  marriage; the left proposes more social 
  programs to help less advantaged families. In 
  Generation Unbound, Isabel V. Sawhill oﬀers a 
  provocative third approach: turning “drifters” 
  into “planners” and thereby ensuring that more 
  children are born into families with the means 
  and 