Nationally recognized for its sound scholarship and balanced approach, and written by one of the leading authorities in the field, Public and Private Families: An Introduction, 3/e examines the family through two lenses - the familiar private family in which we live most of our personal lives, and the public family in which we deal with broader societal issues such as the care of the elderly, the increase in divorce, and childbearing outside of marriage. This book helps students consider intimate personal concerns, such as marriage, and societal concerns, such as governmental policies that affect families, from a sociological perspective.

The text-specific Online Learning Center supports and extends the content of the text by offering students and professors a variety of resources and activities, including chapter quizzes, web links, interactive activities, vocabulary-enhancing crossword puzzles, and PowerPoint slides. Instructors can incorporate any of the material from the Online Learning Center into a course Website using PageOut, a template-driven Website development program created by McGraw-Hill.

Visit the website for Public and Private Families, A Reader, 2/e, also by Andy Cherlin at www.mhhe.com/cherlin2.