present...Scholarly, thoughtful...[this book] includes information that is both important and timely given the welfare reform debate at the state and local level. -- Edwin P. Gordon Social Policy The concluding chapter of this short, clearly written book suggests sensible policy directions for the support of single-parent families by noncustodial parents, governments, and communities. A strength of this book is the clarity of the analysis...Highly recommended. Choice [This] is essentially a text which reports the findings of the authors' analyses of American survey data on the achievements of children from 'disrupted' families. As such it will be primarily of interest to researchers. Nevertheless, it is written in a style which undergraduate students will find very accessible. Moreover, data presentation is refreshingly clear; effective bar charts and simple tables appear in the main text, whilst more complex data displays are located in an appendix, along with a description of methodology. -- Jane Pilcher Reviewing Sociology About the Author Sara McLanahan is Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Gary Sandefur is Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. First Sentence In the summer of 1992, the Vice President of the United States, Dan Quayle, condemned Murphy Brown-the lead character in a popular television show-for giving birth out of wedlock.&nbsp Read the first page