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CHOICE Review

Questionnaire data from a sample of 1,136 single fathers are the basis for Greif's research. The book follows the father from the time his marriage is in trouble, past the custody decision, through various demands of single parenting. Separate chapters discuss divorce, balancing child care with careers, his social and sexual life, the relationship with his ex-wife, and dealings with the legal system. A chapter compares the experience of 150 mothers with custody who completed the same questionnaire with that of the fathers raising children alone. There is also a chapter on children's reactions to their single fathers. Greif nicely balances the quantitative with the qualitative data, giving statistics and case histories. The latter are skillfully demonstrated in a chapter-length story of one family 20 years later as they recall growing up in a single-father family. The book's best and worst qualities-comprehensive scope and awkward writing-probably both stem from the fact that it started as a PhD dissertation. Greif's study joins K. Rosenthal and H. Keshet's Fathers Without Partners (CH, Jun '81) to form the major references on single fathering. College and university libraries.-B. Miller, California State University, Long Beach