Fatherless America

David Blankenhorn, ed. Harper Perennial, 1996, 328 p. Rústica en buen estado, idioma: inglés, 13.5 x 20.3 cm #elarbollibreriadeuso

Fatherless America: Confronting our Most Urgent Social Problem is a political nonfiction book by David Blankenhorn. Published in 1995 by Harper Perennial, the book discusses the impact absentee fathers have not only on individual family units but on the entire US. The book was generally well-received, however Blankenhorn himself is a divisive figure. He is the founder and president of the Institute for American Values and once campaigned against same-sex marriage. He later established the nonpartisan group, the National Fatherhood Initiative, and served on the National Commission on America’s Urban Families at the request of President George H.W. Bush.

Blankenhorn bases his argument on the idea that children have a right to be raised by two parents, a mother and a father, and absent fathers are depriving children of basic human rights. He now acknowledges that these parents can be of any gender, however he focuses exclusively on traditional families for the purposes of Fatherless America.

Blankenhorn expresses dismay at the lack of concern over disappearing and absent fathers. He notes that, while many Americans believe children only need one parent and they don’t lack anything by losing a father, this is preposterous. The aim of Fatherless America is to show how vital fathers are for a thriving, healthy, fully-functioning American society.