Reading List for Men

The bibliography is broken into two parts.  Recent additions are posted by order read.  Family and Society degree readings are posted alphabetical by author.  All titles are in bold.  It is a partial list of readings and does not include the multitude of reports, papers, and journals and political, classical, and historical books read.  I can be emailed at DadLobby@yahoo.com if further is needed.

Recent additions:

Peterson, Jordon B., 12 Rules for Life: an Antidote to Chaos, Canada: Random House, 2018.  Part philosophy and part sociology the author, described as a father figure and voice for a new generation, debunks much of the junk science of radical feminism and policies by reasoned argument and scientifically referenced and supported positions.

Baskerville, Stephen, The New Politics of Sex: The Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties, & the Growth of Government Power, Ketering, OH: Angelica Press, 2017.  A must read and expose of governments interference in the family and the marginalization of fathers.  An in depth updated follow up to Taken Into Custody.

Russell, Thaddeus, A Renegade History of the United States, Free Press, 2011.  An alternative perspective of history that America was defined not by elites, but by every day people, including those on the fringe.

Baskerville, Stephen, Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family, Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 2007.  A much needed report on how family courts and government policies are harming children, fathers, and families.

Family and Society. The following are readings used to obtain a Bachelors degree from SUNY ESC.  It was compiled as an assignment for papers written for the course and the degree itself.

Course: Gender Roles and Responsibilities in the Family: Social, Legal and Political Perspectives.  Assignment: The student will develop a bibliography with at least 15 bibliographic entries with summaries for a particular area of interest associated with gender and society.

My chosen area of study fathers and families: social, political and legal perspectives from the male/father point of view including biases against men and the impact that this is having on men, women, children and families and societal costs associated there to.

Abraham, Jed H. From Courtship to Courtroom: What Divorce Law is Doing to Marriage, New York: Bloch, 1999.  The author discusses the impact that divorce laws and their application are impacting families and men and how it has undermined men within marriage. The author proposes getting the government out of person’s personal lies as a solution.

Amneus, Daniel. Back to Patriarchy, New Rochelle: NY, 1979.  The author discusses the “unholy alliance between the state, media and feminist which he believes works to the detriment of men and the gains of bureaucratic social and political family organizations. The author takes a counter position to radical feminism and homosexuality proposing patriarchy as an accepted and preferable position.

Amneus, Daniel. The Garbage Generation: Alhambra, CA, 1990.  The author continues his discussion of patriarchy as beneficial to society begun in his earlier work. Discussion centers on the negative outcomes to society from movement away form the two parent family. His discussion centers on fathers as being the weakest link in the family and the need to aid fathers in being part of the family.

Amneus, Daniel. The Case for Father Custody, Alhambra, CA: Primrose, 1999.  The author discusses the historical aspects of mandatory father and mother custody regarding children. The movement to mother custody is correlated to increased divorce and disenfranchisement of fathers from children. The author believes that father custody would work to lessen family problems currently associated with single mother households.

Bender, Leslie and Daan Braverman. Power, Privilege and the Law: A Civil Rights Reader, St. Paul, MN, 1995  Civil rights, a phrase which developed from US Constitutional Law is looked at and discussed through a collection of papers on this topic. (See also Power and Privilege below for companion readings).

Blankenhorn, David. Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem, New York: BasicBooks, 1995.  The author gives a historical perspective on fathers in families and father absence. He does an analysis of current fathers and discusses an action plan for returning fathers to children. Like many other fatherhood “leaders” the author lays the blame for father absence on fathers and fails to look at the barriers to fatherhood.
Boss, Pauline. Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.  The author explores the loss of a loved one in which there is no closure such as missing people or medially missing (Alzheimer’s). This applies to the family in that the loss of a parent to a child post divorce is an ambiguous loss.
Braver, Sanford L., Ph.D. and Diane O’Connell. Divorced Dads: Shattering the Myth’s, New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999.  The author led the largest ever federally funded study to look at divorced fathers. His findings were that most “facts” were myths. He discusses how these myths have been relied on to set policy in this area and how the misguided policy has created “parentally disenfranchised” fathers.
Brennan, Carleen and Michael Brennan. Custody for Fathers: A Practical Guide through the Combat Zone of a Brutal Custody Battle, Costa Mesa, CA: Brennan Publishing, 1994.  The authors present a how to guide to handle bitter custody disputes which often arise when fathers do not accept the standard every other weekend visitation schedule with their children. Included are thoughts for needed reforms.
Bryan, Mark. The Prodigal Father: Reuniting Fathers and Their Children with a special section for mothers, New York: Clarkson Potter, 1997.  The author discussion the re-uniting of fathers and children. He discusses his own and other cases where a young single father is estranged and then re-united with his children. Here to the author looks more at the blame of fathers and less at the other actors who inhibit fatherhood.
Cook, Phillip W. Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence, Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.  The author looks at domestic violence perpetrated against men. While DV is widely recognized as a family problem impacting women it is virtually ignored in discussions of men. Using individual cases and valid research the author is able to show the volume of male cases and also how they differ from their female counterparts in the need for intervention.
Erickson, Beth M., Ph.D. Longing for Dad: Father Loss and its Impact, Deerfields Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1998.  The author discusses father loss, physical and/or emotional and the social problems that it causes. How to overcome father loss is discussed.

 

Farrell, Warren, Ph.D. The Myth of Male Power, New York: Simon Schuster, 1993.  The author, a former Board Member with NOW NYC, discusses his perspective that as women’s issues were being addressed the voices and concerns of men were being lost by those who didn’t listen or belittled their arguments into silence. Seeing the impact on one sex intertwined with the other the author proposes an equality approach to both feminism and masculism.

Farrell, Warren, PhD Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t Say: Destroying Myth’s, Creating Love, New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999.  The author speaks of how popular biases against men, including domestic violence “perpetrator” myth’s and men’s reluctance to voice their needs and concerns is causing an increasing rift between the sexes. He offers a couple’s communication program to overcome these obstacles. Included is an appendix of over 50 domestic violence studies from which he pulls his data.

Farrell, Warren, Ph.D. Father and Child Reunion: How to Bring the Dads We Need to the Children We Love, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001.  The author discusses the value of both the paternal and maternal role and instincts to raise their children with their differing styles. He also explores how institutions, legal and social, often interfere with the father and child relationship including the negative media portrayal of fathers.

Garabino, James, Ph.D. Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, New York: Free Press, 1999.  The author discusses increasing violence among male youths. He explores the impact of violence and violent crime and how lack of adult supervision is impacting this area.

Gardner, Richard A., M.D. The Parental Alienation Syndrome 2nd ed., Creeskill, NJ: Creative Therapeutics, 1992.  The author describes the clinical definition of Parental Alienation Syndrome as a disorder of the controlling parent towards the non controlling parent with the children brainwashed and programmed as the tool and the children developing independent alienating behavior. While not listed in the DSM IV the Syndrome has been submitted for DSM IV.

Ginsberg, Carl. Race and Media: The Enduring Life of the Moynihan Report, New York: Institute for Media Analysis, 1989.  The author discusses the Moynihan Report which focused on father absence and how the report and the issue of fatherless ness continues to resurface as a policy issue in government and also in the media.

Goldberg, Bernard. Bias: A media Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, Washington, DC: Regnery, 2002.  The author discusses the liberal bias in the popular media and how it is distorting the news. Applies to the discussion of fathers and families in explaining the promotion of liberal feminist agenda’s over those of Masculists which are labeled conservative and not reported on.

Goldstein, Joseph, Albert J. Solnit, Sonja Goldstein and Anna Freud. The Best Interest of the Child: The Least Detrimental Alternative, New York: Free Press, 1998.  This is the trilogy of Beyond the Best Interest of the Child, Before the Best Interest of the Child and In the Best Interest of the Child which speaks to state intrusion in the family and a child’s well being. The best interest of the child standard for child custody in the United States replaced the tender year’s doctrine of sole mother custody and paternal custody and control of children before that.

Horn, Wade F., David Blankenhorn and Mitchell B. Pearlstein, eds. The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action, Lanham, MD: Lexington, 1999.  The editors are self described as leaders of the fatherhood movement have compiled a multi-author compilation discussing the problem of absence of fathers from families. Many facets of fatherhood are discussed from marriage to active fathering discussing both causes and solutions to the problem.

Johnson, Allan G. Privilege, Power and Difference, New York: McGraw Hill, 2001.  The author, a male apologist, discusses gender, race and social class from the gender feminist perspective. Blaming men for the problems, specifically white men, the author applies a Marxist solution to the problems we face which I like to call femi-marxist.

Leving, Jeffery M. and Kenneth A. Dachman, Ph.D. Fathers Right’s: Hard Hitting and Fair Advice for Every Father Involved in a Custody Dispute, New York: Basic Books, 1997.  The author discusses father’s rights from the perspective of a child’s needs. He gives advice on how to maintain contact and the paternal relationship and offers recommendations to address the social crisis of disenfranchised fathers.

Levy, David L. The Best parent is Both Parents: A Guide to Shared Parenting in the 21stCentury, Norfolk, VA: Hampton Roads, 1993.  The author discusses the value of tow parents in the raising of children regardless of marital status of the parents and the individual benefit to children resulting in social benefit.

Life. Life with Father, New York: Little Brown, 1995.
A picture book from life magazine with an Introduction by Tom Brokaw.

McGoldrick, Monica. You Can Go Home Again: Reconnecting with Your Family, New York: W.W. Norton, 1995.  The author discusses the cycles of dysfunction that occur generational in families, often skipping generations. Through the use of Genogram and research on our own family tree the author shows we can learn to understand our families, and therein ourselves.

McGoldrick, Monica, Joe Giordano and John K. Pearce, ed. Ethnicity & Family Therapy 2nd, New York: Guilford Press, 1996.  The authors present a review of ethnic family history and problems and solutions unique to individual ethnicities. Used for problem intervention the book has practical applications to families in understanding how their ethnicity relates to the individual family member.

Pistotnik, Bradley A. Esq. Divorce War!: 50 Strategies Every Woman Needs to Know to Win, Holbrook, MA, 1996.  The author presents a how to manual for women to abuse men with the aid of the legal system. The strategies will often disgust the fair minded reader but it should be noted that this has been anecdotally reported to be one of the top selling divorce books to women. We can only hope that the author’s wife read this and gives him his just reward.

Popenoe, David. Life Without Father: Compelling New Evidence that Fatherhood and Marriage are Indispensable for the Good of Children and Society, New York: Free Press, 1996.  Poponoe first looks at father absence, then fathers from a historical perspective, reviews why fathers are necessary and speaks to the need to reclaim fathers and marriage. Like most treatises on fatherhood the author lays the blame on father abandonment and fails to look at the barriers to fatherhood.

Power and Privilege: Selected Readings, Saratoga Springs, NY: Empire State College, 2000.  A collection of readings reproduced with permission of the authors from various sources discussing power and privilege from various perspectives. (See also Bender above for the companion readings).

Pruett, Kyle D., M.D. Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child, New York: Free Press, 2000.  The author discusses how mothers and father parent, the differences and why both are important to the rearing of children physically, emotionally, cognitively and behaviorally developmentally.

Rainwater, Lee and William L.Yancey. The Moynihan Report and the Politics of Controversy: Including the Text of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1967.

Ross, Julie A, M.A. and Judy Corcoran. Joint Custody with a Jerk: Raising a Child with an Uncooperative Ex, New York: St. Martins, 1996.  A practical guide to identifying problems in relationships with Ex’s over children, solutions to the problems and child centered solutions to dealing with the issues.

Samenow, Stanton E., Ph.D. Before It’s To Late: Why Some Kids Get Into Trouble – and What Parents Can Do About It, New York: Times Books, 1989.  The author discusses how attitudes and behaviors can be reviewed early as an intervention tool for youth delinquency. He discusses six error in parents make to exacerbate the problem and suggests ways to overcome them.

Satir, Virginia. The New Peoplemaking, Mountain View, CA: Science and Behavior Books, 1988.  The author discusses interactions in families between family members looking at diverse phases of the family from self worth to communication and across generational changes.

Scanzoni, John. Contemporary Families and Relationships: Reinventing Responsibility, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995.  The author discusses the family in its historical and current contexts. Comparison is made between traditionalist and progressive theories on family and its makeup. Costs and benefits to individuals within the family are discussed.

Scharf, Maggie. Intimate Partners: Partners in Love and Marriage, New York: Ballantine Books, 1987.  The author looks at marriage intimately from the inside and not as an institution and how the demand for intimacy in marriage has increased. She also discusses the cyclical family problems brought into a marriage and looks at individual problems and solutions for couple.

Schepard, Andrew I. Children, Courts, and Custody: Interdisciplinary Models for Divorcing Families, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.  The author takes an interdisciplinary look at child custody in New York State. He looks at the process and its impact on children gives ideas for change to lessen the conflict of divorcing parents for the betterment of children.

Schiraldi, Glenn R., Ph.D. The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook: A Guide to Healing, Recovery and Growth, Lincolnwood, IL: Lowell House, 2000.  The author discusses Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with causes, management, treatment and moving on. Allies to families suffering break up as all participants are subjected to extreme stresses.

Skolnick, Arlene S and Jerome H. Skolnick. Family in Transition12th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2003.  The authors look at families as a changing entity to meet individual needs. Historical and current comparisons are made and discussion is had on the future of the family.

Sommers, Christina Hoff. The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.  The author describes how it is actually boys who are in trouble academically. The perception that girls are academically falling behind is discussed in the context of weak research used to promote a political agenda.

Sommers, Christina Hoff. Who Stole Feminism ?: How Women Have Betrayed Women, New York: Touchstone, 1994.  The author discusses how gender feminists have taken over control of feminist political discourse alienating mainstream women from the feminist movement. She points to biased research and urban myths which malign men and which are used to promote the gender feminists perspective.

Tiger, Lionel. The Decline of Males: The First Look at an Unexpected New World for Men and Women, New York: Griffin, 1999.  The author explores the application of technology and reproductive biological changes and how they apply to the interactions of the sexes. The author describes men as on the road to being the second sex due to women’s control of human reproduction the author discusses Masculinism as an area of study within gender studies.

Wallace, Harvey. Family Violence 3rd ed., Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2002.  The author discusses family violence in many forms except for violence against men. The author tries to bring together a multidisciplinary discussion with social, legal and medical perspectives.

Wallerstein, Judith S., Julia M. Lewis and Sandra Blakeslee. The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, New York: Hyperion, 2000.  This is the compilation of Wallerstein’s 25 year study of children of divorce. While a statistically small sample the book gives insight into the perspectives of children of divorce now that they are adults themselves.

Warshak, Dr. Richard A. Divorce Poison, New York: Harper Collins, 2001.  The author discusses the impact on children of a vengeful parent inclined towards bad mouthing, bashing, brainwashing, false allegations of abuse and revenge on the other parent. He offers day to day advice that can be used outside of the system to protect their children’s interests.

Whitehead, Barbara Dafoe. The Divorce Culture, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.  The author first spoke of the problem of casual divorces and their “entitlement in an Atlantic Monthly article entitled “Dan Quayle Was Right” and here she expands upon her arguments. The author speaks against the “expressive” divorce which is viewed as an individual prerogative and a means of personal satisfaction.

Whittman, Jeffrey P., Ph.D. Custody, Chaos and Personal Peace: Sharing Custody with an Ex Who Drives You Crazy, New York: Berkley, 2001.  The author presents strategies for peace with your ex, skills for taming conflict with others and tools to respond to and express your own anger toward personal healing.

Young, Cathy. Ceasefire: Why Women and Men Must Join Forces to Achieve true Equality, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.  The author believes that feminism has moved to a “victim” mentality focusing on treatment of women by men. The fear of a Masculist “men as victims” backlash may occur as a result and believes that both genders need to refocus on social and political inequities towards both men and women.