The Shelter Of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families

The Story

Our country is in a profound crisis, of decency, of civility, of character. Our best instincts are undermined at every turn. And our families, to which we turn in crisis, are feeling the strain with great intensity. Mary Pipher understands this. She is a good listener, perhaps the best listener in America. And what she understands she can express in a manner that goes directly to the heart. Writing from her immersion in her community, and from her experience as a therapist, Pipher has found words to express our innermost feelings. Families today are experiencing a new set of realities. Working parents are harried, tired, and overextended. They are unable to protect their children from the enemy within, the inappropriate television they watch for hours, the computer games that keep them from playing outside, the virtual reality they tune in to when they should be learning about the real world. And so, Pipher says, we have houses without walls.