Bringing Up Boys: Practical Advice and Encouragement for Those Shaping the Next Generation of Men
As he has in past books (Life on the Edge, LJ 5/1/95), Dobson  advises parents from his overtly conservative, Christian stance.  A notable Christian activist, powerfully connected right-winger,  and founder and president of Focus on the Family, he has written  a work with seemingly good intentions: "If you are honest,  trustworthy, caring, loving, self-disciplined, and God-fearing,  your boys will be influenced by those traits as they age.... So  much depends on what they observe in you." True enough. His  underlying arguments, however, are peculiarly mean-spirited. Any  outsider who threatens traditional family values comes under  fierce attack. Most early feminists, for example, "were never  married, didn't like children, and deeply resented men, yet they  advised millions of women about how to raise their children and,  especially, how to produce healthy boys." Dobson also avows that  gays suffer from a "disorder." Clearly, the titular advice and  encouragement serve Dobson's agenda. While this book is  appropriate for certain religious collections, public librarians  should exercise caution; there are Christian parenting titles  (e.g., William Sears, M.D., & Martha Sears's The Complete Book  of Christian Parenting and Child Care, Broadman & Holman, 1997)  that don't polemicize and defame as does this. Douglas C. Lord,  Connecticut State Lib., HartfordCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.