A one of a kind text that examines family life in the United States from colonial times to modern day, and provides a distinctly feminist perspective focusing on gender inequality during this period. Each chapter contains a three-part format that cover the key issues related to the topic, theoretical debates that exist within the field, and human agency and social movements that include the actions people have taken to cope with, resist, or change specific family problems. How to study families in the twenty-first century; a history of U.S. families with a focus on Euro-American and African-American families; Families and the economic system; the organization of race, class and gender; work and the family, love and sex; marriage; divorce; battering and marital rape are all covered. For anyone interested in studying family issues and concerns. Family Therapists, Counselors, Social Workers and others who search for better understanding of the complexities of family dynamics.