With characteristic insight, compassion, and dry humor, the grand master of family therapy Salvador Minuchin challenges us to meditate on some of the most perplexing--and profound--questions of the day: Why is our image of the ideal family so far from the common reality? When we have such a rich literature of individual psychology, why is the family comparatively neglected? Why does our legal system promote confrontation rather than cooperation?

Vignettes of families in transition, of new and old family violence--in a delicate, resonant interplay of fact, fiction, and imaginary dialogues by one of our most esteemed family therapists...The book has emotional and intellectual drama. It speaks at once for family therapy...for family, all-family, mindedness.

By means of a series of personal anecdotes, protocols, fables, and plays, the eminent family therapist probes and assesses the role of the individual within the family and the social, political, and legal contexts of the family.