Fathers Book

The relationship between father and child is one of biblical proportions. Fathers have always been larger than life figures to their children. And dads of today take an even greater hand in the day-to-day nurturing and care of their children than ever before. Fathers is a book for and about these all-important figures. It includes more than sixty stories, excerpts, poems, letters, and recipes for and about dads.

Some contributors offer deeply personal accounts of their relationships with their own fathers. Jimmy Carter, Clarence Day, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Joyce Carol Oates, Shaun O'Connell, John Ritter, John Updike, Sarah Vowell, and Karen Spears Zacharias each remember their fathers and reflect on the great influence they've had on their own lives.

Also included are excerpts, stories, and verse from writers such as Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Guest, D. H. Lawrence, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Bernard Malamud, Guy de Maupassant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau that explore some aspect of fatherhood and the father-child relationship. While contributors E. J. Francis Davies, Lafcadio Hearn, Christopher Morley, and Al Roker offer insights from their own experiences as fathers.

And considering that advice-whether solicited or not-has always been an important part of fathering, there is a selection of letters from such fathers as Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas More, Leopold Mozart, Ogden Nash, and Theodore Roosevelt, penned to their children on the subjects of love, morals, education, and life in general.

Since all dads love a good meal, a section of Favorite Recipes for Dads rounds out the collection with a sampling of recipes for hearty foods that dads will love to eat-if not cook for themselves.

For first-time dads and those blessed with children many times over, Fathers is both a tribute and a heartfelt thank-you to these awe-inspiring figures.

Carol Kelly-Gangi is an editor and attorney. She has edited the anthologies Mom Always Said, 'Tis the Season, How Do I Love Thee?, and Glad Tidings, all for Barnes & Noble Books. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and three-year-old son.