The Public Family: Exploring Its Role in Democratic Society. By David J. Herring. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003. 272p. $49.95 cloth, $19.95 paper.

In the name of the family, the state has tried to encourage marriage for poor, single mothers yet denied marriage to homosexual couples. By terminating parental rights, the state denies certain adults the opportunity to raise their children, but the state has imposed parental obligations on others through measures such as child support enforcement. The state acknowledges the responsibility to educate all children but refuses to provide to all minors other important social goods, such as public assistance. Our policies toward families indicate any number of conundrums. In order to think more clearly about family law and policy, David Herring argues that we need to develop a deeper understanding of the public functions of the family, one with a healthy regard for the ways in which the family challenges and undermines the state.