The American Family: From Obligation to Freedom

After about six years of writing and many more years than that of researching and teaching on the subject, Palgrave Macmillan is publishing The American Family: From Obligation to Freedom.  The thesis is in the subtitle.  Jennifer S. Hirsch, a Professor at Columbia University and the author of a wonderful book on modern Mexicano families on both sides of the border, wrote a lovely blurb which sums up the book's goal: "this book manages the impressive feat of providing a coherent overview of the social roots of changing American kinship patterns while at the same time serving as a provocative meditation on the roots of American individualism and on the implications of that individualism for our collective well-being."  I hope that she is right!
 http://us.macmillan.com/theamericanfamily-1/DavidPetersondelMar
http://www.amazon.com/American-Family-Obligation-Freedom/dp/0230337457/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319474679&sr=1-1