Pauline Boss Wayne Caron William Doherty

Harold Grotevant Jan McCulloch

Paul Rosenblatt Virginia Zuiker

Pauline Boss
	Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss . Boss, P. (2005) All losses are touched with ambiguity. Yet those who suffer losses without finality bear a particular burden. Whether it is the experience of caring for a parent in the grip of Alzheimer’s or waiting to learn the fate of a spouse gone missing in a disastrous event, the loss is disastrously coupled with a lack of closure. Bereft of rituals and social support, persons who experience such ambiguous losses find it hard to understand their situation, difficult to cope, and almost impossible to move ahead with their lives. In Loss, Trauma, and Resilience, Boss, the principal theorist of the concept of ambiguous loss, offers new concepts and clinical practices for addressing this critical psychological experience that, in one form or another, touches all of our experiences of loss. Boss draws on research and extensive clinical experience working with families in order to frame a powerful but flexible therapeutic approach. The fundamental goal is to guide readers in the task of building resilience in clients who face of the trauma of loss without resolution. (New York: W.W Norton & Company)
	Family Stress: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Boss, P. & Mulligan, C.(2003) This book is an anthology of 23 major articles from family stress literature that provides academics and students with an accessible, coherent compilation of writings by past, present and emerging family stress scholars. Family Stress includes classic and current writings from multi-disciplinary streams of work in family social science, social work, nursing, family sociology, family therapy, and family psychology. The chapters address the increasingly diverse and complex family situations of stress and crisis and provide a new generation of family stress scholars with convenient access to a sampling of articles by past and present researchers, theorists, and clinicians. Pauline Boss has written chapter introductions that encourage students, researchers, and practitioners to expand their own thinking about the concepts and models of family stress and coping to guide the development of future work in this field. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)
	Family Stress Management: A Contextual Approach. Boss, P. (2002) Why do some families survive stressful situations while others fall apart? Can a family’s beliefs and values be used as a predictor of vulnerability to stress? And most importantly, can family stress be prevented? In this Second Edition, Pauline Boss continues to explore both the larger context surrounding families and stress and the inner context, which includes perceptions and meanings. The author emphasizes the need for a more general contextual model of family stress that may be applicable to a wider diversity of people and families as well as a wider variety of stresses and crises than other models. The goal is to provide a framework for students and professionals engaged in helping families learn how to manage their stress. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)
	Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief. Boss, P. (1999) When a loved one dies we mourn our loss. We take comfort in the rituals that mark the passing, and we turn to those around us for support. But what happens when there is no closure, when a family member or a friend who may be still alive is lost to us nonetheless? How, for example, does the mother whose soldier son is missing in action, or the family of an Alzheimer's patient who is suffering from severe dementia, deal with the uncertainty surrounding this kind of loss? Pauline Boss explains that, all too often, those confronted with such ambiguous loss fluctuate between hope and hopelessness. Suffered too long, these emotions can deaden feeling and make it impossible for people to move on with their lives. Yet the central message of this book is that they can move on. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Boss suggests strategies that can cushion the pain and help families come to terms with their grief. Her work features the heartening narratives of those who cope with ambiguous loss and manage to leave their sadness behind, including those who have lost family members to divorce, immigration, adoption, chronic mental illness, and brain injury. With its message of hope, this eloquent book offers guidance and understanding to those struggling to regain their lives. (Harvard University Press)
Wayne Caron
	Alzheimer's Disease: The Family Journey. Caron, W.A. (2001) This book is for families who daily face the Alzheimer's disease challenge - as victims, as caregivers, or as concerned loved ones. Families who learn to strengthen and "manage" the family system will find more effective ways to anticipate family care challenges and opportunities, to mobilize and optimize family strengths and resources, and to maintain overall family well-being. This systems and values perspective (grounded in the discipline of family systems therapy) seeks to help families develop an adaptive, learning family system that proactively plans for change and effectively meets shifting and changing care challenges — while preserving (even enhancing) overall family cohesion, solidarity, unity, and overall well-being. (Minneapolis: North Ridge Press)
William Doherty
	Putting Family First: Successful Strategies for Reclaiming Famiy Life in A Hurry Up World. Doherty, W.J. (2002) Do you often feel you spend most of each day in transit between soccer practice, swim team, and saxophone lessons? How many times each week does your family sit down to share a meal and a conversation? When was the last time you all went on vacation together? How often do you make time for your marriage? You may be surprised when you stop to contemplate the answers to these questions -- if so, you aren't alone. In the past twenty years, children's free time has declined by twelve hours a week; time spent on structured sports activities has doubled; family dinners are down by a third; and the number of families taking vacations together has decreased by 28 percent. When Bill Doherty and Barbara Carlson perceived this trend in their own families and communities, they helped to start Putting Family First, an organization committed to helping parents reclaim family time and rebuild family connections. Drawing on their years of hands-on experience as parents and educators, Doherty and Carlson have written a thoughtful and practical guide for finding family balance in a frantic world. More than a time-management manual, Putting Family First delves into the issues that lie at the heart of all family-related choices, helping us think about the roles our children play in our lives, and the roles we play in theirs. Their insights reveal innovative ways to set priorities, avoid scheduling conflicts, and create satisfying family rituals. Offering a new perspective on a fraying institution, Putting Family First restores a sense of fulfillment, fun, and security to the family once again. (Henry Holt)
	Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World that Pulls Us Apart. Doherty, W.J. (2001) Today's divorce epidemic reflects the rise of many social forces that can pull even the happiest couple apart. In fact, many of us hold deeply ingrained attitudes and assumptions that work against long-term marital happiness. From renowned family therapist Dr. William J. Doherty, this book helps couples pinpoint hidden marital problems and take positive steps to stay close and connected every day. You'll learn to break free of such common traps as confusing desires with needs, applying a trade-in-the-old-model consumer mentality to your own spouse, or becoming overtime parents instead of full-time partners. You'll get suggestions for creating relationship rituals that stand the test of time; from mundane to celebratory, sexy to silly. Whether you're a young couple who wants to hold tight to happily-ever-after, or longtime marrieds on the brink of breakup, you can fight back to restore a marriage worth saving -- even when it seems too late. This book shows how. (New York: Guilford Press)
	Take Back Your Kids: Confident Parenting in Turbulent Times. Doherty, W.J. (2000) Childhood may be changing, but today's cable-ready, all-too-worldly kids are still just kids and should be treated that way. William J. Doherty does not want to recreate childhood as it was in simpler times, he merely wants to help parents adapt to the changes and create an even better future. Doherty's new book, Take Back Your Kids, offers a blueprint to do just that. Too often, Doherty believes, parents merely provide services and opportunities for children, who in turn consider themselves "consumers of parental services." Hierarchy has diminished. Parents regularly make sacrifices in time and money they perceive to benefit their children. Take Back Your Kids shows occasionally saying no to a child's wish, denying a costly and time-consuming opportunity, allows for more meaningful family moments together at meals, church services and volunteer activities. (Sorin Books)
	The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals for Building Family Bonds. Doherty, W.J. (2000) Nationally acclaimed family therapist William Doherty provides here what every harried spouse and parent needs: a user’s manual for modern family life. In today’s world, families can include two working parents, remarried partners, stepchildren, single parents, and grandparents, all with conflicting needs and schedules. As a result many of us yearn for a lost sense of family and familial bonds, a feeling enforced by the equally fragmented state of our religious and civic communities. How can we reclaim the ties that bind us together? Drawing upon his successful practice and research, William Doherty shows us how to fight entropy at home and in our communities. He offers a practical guide that will help all families to keep open channels of communication, sustain regular involvement with others, and manage conflict. (Avon Books)
Hal Grotevant
	Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections. Grotevant, H.D. & McRoy, R.G. (1998) Since the mid-1970s, adoption practices in the United States have changed dramatically, and the confidentiality maintained in the past is no longer the norm. The trend is toward openness in adoption in which either mediated (through an adoption agency) or direct contact occurs between the adoptive family and birth parent(s). Some adoption professionals argue that openness is harmful and experimental while others argue that the secrecy of confidential adoptions has been harmful to all parties involved. Who's right? In Openness in Adoption, this question is addressed via a nationwide study of 720 individuals (190 adoptive fathers, 190 adoptive mothers, 171 adopted children, and 169 birthmothers) that was conducted over a five-year period. The book begins by presenting the issues and debates surrounding open adoptions and then examines them from the perspective of the adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth mothers. The volume concludes with implications for adoption practice, public policy, and future research. A groundbreaking volume, Openness in Adoption provides a wealth of information to professionals and practitioners in the fields of family studies, sociology, developmental psychology, social work, clinical psychology, and social psychology. (Newbury Park, CA: Sage)
	Family Assessment: A Guide to Methods and Measures. Grotevant, H.D., & Carlson, C.I. (1989) Grotevant focuses primarily on instruments that concern whole family functioning or the functioning of multiple family relationships, Family Assessment methodically covers measures involving the coding of family interaction, the global rating of family processes, and self-reports of perceptions of family functioning. With the continuity of an authored, rather than an edited text, this authoritative and up-to-date reference encompasses the best current measures in the broad field of family studies, presenting detailed descriptions as well as critical evaluations of selected measures. This innovative work will greatly assist clinicians, researchers, students, and other family scholars in the selection of appropriate measures for research questions or for clinical screening, diagnosis, and treatment evaluation. (New York: Guilford)
B. Jan McCulloch
	Old, Female, and Rural. McCulloch, B. Jan (1998) This book highlights a group that has not received much attention in gerontology research and writing- namely, elderly rural women, whose resources and needs differ from those of urban women and of elderly men. The authors, all with experience in studying old rural women’s lives, each focus on a different approach to the topic. From studying a single case to analyzing entire cohorts via census data, from focusing on access to health care to describing sources of informal social support, the chapters cover significant and timely topics. They illustrate the diversity that exists among this group and give evidence of strengths and effective coping strategies as well as problems such as poverty and isolation. This book should be of interest to gerontology researchers, educators, practicitioners (especially in nonmetropolitain areas), and students as they seek greater understanding of old age from a rural woman’s perspective.”- Rosemary Blieszner, Ph.D. Department of Family and Child Development Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA. (The Haworth Press, co-published simultaneously as Journal of Women & Aging, Volume 10, Number 4, 1998)
Paul Rosenblatt
	African American Grief. Rosenblatt, P.C. & Wallace, B.R. (2005) Based on intensive interviews with 26 bereaved African-Americans and a thorough review of the relevant literature, this book provides the first comprehensive picture of African-American grieving. In many ways contemporary theories of bereavement fit what we see in African-American bereavement, but in some ways these theories are mute, misleading, or unhelpful. In particular, the standard views of bereavement do not provide an understanding of how African-American bereavement is shaped by and responsive to racism, economic disadvantage, the almost six years difference in life expectancy between African-Americans and Euro-Americans, the social class diversity of many African-American families, and, for some African-Americans, the powerful influence of drugs and community devastation. Nor do the standard views of bereavement help us to understand the influence of the Black church and African-American culture(s). Although a great deal of bereavement literature is written as though one set of principles fits all, this book suggests that those principles fall short when it comes to African-Americans. (New York: Brunner-Routledge)
	Help Your Marriage Survive the Death of a Child. Rosenblatt, P.C. (2000) Rosenblatt, founder of the Grief and Families Focus Group of the National Council on Family Relations, has written a sympathetic book focusing on the effects of the loss of a child on a couple's relationship. Rosenblatt's research is based on interviews with 29 couples from different socioeconomic circumstances who lost children of varying ages. Although this book definitely fills a gap in death and dying literature, it is, unfortunately, poorly written, and its repetitious style detracts from its worth. Rosenblatt's advice differs little from couples counseling in general. Perhaps the most helpful chapter deals with strained sexual relationships following the death of a child. In some cases, Rosenblatt tries to copy the vernacular of the interviewees, but rather than enhancing the dialog, it actually disrupts the flow, often making the interviewees sound unintelligent. The book would have benefited from a list of references and/or suggested readings. Because the work is written specifically for couples, it is best suited for public libraries.--Annette Haines, Central Michigan Univ. Libs., Mt. Pleasant Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.(Philadelphia: Temple University Press)
	Parent Grief: Narratives of Loss and Relationship. Rosenblatt, P.C. (2000) A psychologist and a qualitative researcher in the field use extensive interviews to explore the narratives of 58 parents in 29 couples or former couples who have experienced the death of a child. Themes addressed include the death and events leading up to it; parents' experiences of a chasm between themselves and others; individual and couple grieving; parenting other children after the death; relationships with family, friends, and community; and learning how to talk about the death. (Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel)
	Multiracial Couples: Black and White Voices. Rosenblatt, P.C., Karis, T.A., & Powell, R.D. (1995) Winner of an award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights as an outstanding book for the year 1995 on the Subject of Human Rights in North America. The problems of mixed race families in a racist society are fully explored in this qualitative, narrative study. Interviews with 21 biracial couples offer deep insights into their relationships and how they perceive society has viewed their marriages. The interviewers, a biracial couple themselves, ask their subjects such questions as how their churches, families, friends and community treat them and their partners. They also examine the interactions between spouses in biracial marriages and relationships between these couples and their parents and children. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)
	Metaphors of Family Systems Theory: Toward New Constructions. Rosenblatt, P.C. (1994) "The author wrote Metaphors of Family Systems Theory for an audience composed of professionals who study and/or treat families. ...I recommend the book unequivocally and with some urgency to experienced family theorists and practitioners, because its contents provide a balanced view of what various mainstream theoretical concepts both offer and fail to offer.... I also recommend this book as a supplemental text for students and professionals who are in the initial stages of their exposure to family system-oriented theory and therapy and are concurrently reading the foundational literature." -Stephen M. Gavazzi, Journal of Marriage and the Family. A selection of the Psychotherapy Book Club and the Behavioral Science Book Club. (New York: Guilford)
	Farming is in our Blood: Farm Families in Economic Crisis. Rosenblatt, P.C. (1990) This book documents the role of private and federal farm lenders in creating economic difficulties for farm families and the inequities in the distribution of losses between lender and borrower. Examines the role of family loyalties, values, and traditions in creating economic difficulties for farm families. Describes the patterns farm families have followed in coping with economic difficulties and discusses the interpersonal and economic problems these approaches have created. Analyzes farming as a way of life and the complexities in dealing with the economic crisis that arises from loyalty to home place, herds, and family traditions. Provides accounts of the interpersonal costs to families caught in the crisis. Raises questions about the actions of farm lenders and possible problems in the established rules of loan security. Illuminates the complexities of the grief process in farm families in crisis. Explores the dynamics of both isolation and support felt by farm families in crisis and analyzes the many forces, in families and in the community, that make both happen. Going beneath the statistics to let the people caught in the crisis speak for themselves, this book brings to life the experiences, understandings, and feelings of twenty-four Minnesota farm families caught in the economic crisis in agriculture. (Ames: Iowa State University Press. Repring edition: Ann Arbor, MI: Books on Demand, UMI Press)
	The Family in Business: Understanding and Dealing with the Challenges Entrpreneurial Families Face. Rosenblatt, P.C., deMik, L., Anderson, R.M., & Johnson, P.A. (1985) Rosenblatt provides practical, how-to advice for mediating a variety of conflicts, including those arising from divorces, custody and visitation decisions, family conflict, neighborhood grievances, educational disagreements, environmental disputes, and problems in the workplace. This book provides ways to design, manage, and maintain more useful work groups--including labor-management committees, staff meetings, advisory groups, and policy committees. In eleven original chapters, reviews current knowledge about groups and explores new directions for understanding them and improving their effectiveness. (San Fransisco: JosseyBass. Spanish translation: La Familia en la Empresa. Buenos Aires, Argentina: "El Ateneo," Pedro Garcia S.A., 1995. Reprint edition: Ann Arbor, MI: Books on Demand, UMI Press, 1997)
	Bitter, Bitter Tears: Nineteenth Century Diarists and Twentieth Century Grief Theories. Rosenblatt, P.C. (1983) This book examines grief over death and separation in 56 nineteenth century U.S. and Canadian diaries. Grief is defined here as the emotional reactions (including sorrow, anger, and depression) and the cognitive reactions (including confusion and obsessive review) to a loss. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Reprint edition: Ann Arbor, MI: Books on Demand, UMI Press)
	Grief and Mourning in Cross Cultural Perspective. Rosenblatt, P.C., Walsh, R.P., & Jackson, D.A. (1976) For people in all human societies, the death of familiar people is a constant. The ethnographic passages quoted throughout this book illustrate the fact that grief feelings are not unique to people in Western civilization. The experience of grief seems to be one of the costs of being human. The gains from long-term contact and interdependence are often followed by the agony, anger, and feelings of emptiness and sorrow that result from the death of someone who has been important to one. (New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files Press)
Virginia Zuiker
	Hispanic Self-Employment in the Southwest: Rising Above the Threshold of Poverty. Zuiker, V. (1998) Self-employment is an option that has been considered a viable economic alternative for minority populations facing barriers to gainful employment in the traditional wage and salary labor market in the U.S. This book examines whether self-employment is an opportunity that will enable the Hispanic householder who resides in the Southwest portion of the United States to earn a living that will keep his/her household above the threshold of poverty. (In S. Bruchey, Ed., Garland Studies in the History of American Labor. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.)