Choice Review
This book is best compared with studies of divorce decision effects on ex-spouses and children. G. Spanier and L. Thompson's Parting (1984) narrowly views decisional aftermath in a Pennsylvania sample, in contrast to F. Furstenberg and A. Cherlin's Divided Families (CH, Sep'91), which presents empirically based policy speculation, thin both on law and on children. G. Koff's Love and the Law (1989) cites national cases and offers impressionistic assessment of effects on spouses and children. Closest to the work under review is L. Weitzman's Divorce Revolution (CH, Feb'86), which looks at law and socioeconomic effects in a still useful, "post-no-fault" California sample. Maccoby and Mnookin accent both effects on children and spouses and legal realities versus judicial hopes, and confirm the importance of building at least civil post-divorce relationships to smooth childhood emotional growth and mitigate the effects of custody patterns (cooperative, conflictive, disengaged). Their book makes profitable reading for general audiences, college students, lawyers, and social researchers. All levels. A. P. Bober; Southern Connecticut State University