The result of a unique collaboration between a black male and white female whose disparate backgrounds held numerous commonalities, this book examines the detrimental effects of the current market economy and negligent public policy on the well-being of American families. The first section of the book narrates the authors' working-class family backgrounds, highlighting the strength of their families and of the roles their parents played. The impact of government policies which helped sustain their strong family units is also examined. This section also highlights the current state of parenting and families, and how government, business, and the wider culture not only fail to support the efforts of parents and families, but often actively undermine those efforts. The second section details the attacks on the family waged by these three entities. The third section explores the particularly detrimental results of these attacks on fathers--how the three entities have disabled fathers from fulfilling their role, and the influence of groups such as "Promise Keepers" and "Nation of Islam" in restoring the faith and self-determination men have been stripped of. The fourth section examines how to reweave the web of care in our nation, detailing a poll of parents' political priorities which showed remarkable continuity across race and socioeconomic class, and how far afield the priorities of politicians are from those of parents. This section also details a "Parents' Bill of Rights"--a pragmatic, programmatic agenda to serve as a framework for a parents' movement, devised by the Task Force on Parent Empowerment which the authors chaired. The book's appendices provide a detailed analysis of the parent survey as well as tables of relevant data. Extensive notes for each chapter are included. (HTH)