The war against parents

A white woman and a black man come together to address the burning social issue of our time: the virtual abandonment of parents - poor and middle class - by our business, political, and cultural elites. Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Cornel West call for a Parents' Bill of Rights that gives new value and dignity to the parental role and restores our nation's commitment to the well-being of children. Hewlett and West show how for thirty years big business, government, and the wider culture have waged a silent war against parents. We live in a nation where market work, centered on profits and greed, increasingly crowds out nonmarket work, centered on commitment and care.

In calling for a Parents' Bill of Rights, the authors seek to unite America's 62 million parents behind an agenda that spans the divides of race, gender, and class.