A BETTER WORLD FOR OUR CHILDREN: Rebuilding American Family Values

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 1994

At 91, Spock (Dr. Spock on Parenting 1988, etc.) offers his twilight thoughts on American society -- and they're not happy ones. Although Spock's jabs come from the political left, his diagnosis is not unlike that of social conservatives like William Bennett. Among his points: The unraveling of family cohesiveness is a major cause of the country's social ills; there is a ""progressive coarsening of the society's attitude toward love and sexuality, which is further cheapened and exploited by television, films and popular music."" But Spock also argues for better day-care facilities so that single motherhood needn't sentence both parent and child to poverty. He also discusses racial and gender discrimination. At heart, the old doctor is battling against a bottom-line, instrumental valuation of human life, an obsession with material riches rather than an appreciation of emotional richness.

Pub Date: Sept. 19, 1994

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 224

Publisher: National Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994

Categories: NONFICTION