The revised and updated third edition of this book includes the most current research, statistics, and insights on the effects of divorce on spouses, their children, and society overall. New and extensive sections have been added that provide tips on preserving, improving, and possibly saving marriages.

The interrelationship between sexuality and national identity during Puerto Rico's transition from Spanish to U.S. colonialism.

Bibliography: p. 245-255.

"I have been through some of the worst of contentious divorce litigation," Alec Baldwin declares in A Promise to Ourselves. Using a very personal approach, he offers practical guidance to help others avoid the anguish he has endured. An Academy and Tony Award nominee and a 2007 recipient of Golden Globe, SAG, and Television Critics Association Awards for best actor in a comedy, Alec Baldwin is one of the best-known, most successful actors in the world. His relationship with Kim Basinger, the Academy Award–winning actress, lasted nearly a decade. They have a daughter named Ireland, and for a time, theirs seemed to be the model of a successful Hollywood marriage. But in 2000 they separated and in 2002 divorced. Their split---specifically the custody battle surrounding Ireland---would be the subject of media attention for years to come. In his own life and others', Baldwin has seen the heavy toll that divorce can take---psychologically, emotionally, and financially. He has been extensively involved in divorce litigation, and he has witnessed the way that noncustodial parents, especially fathers, are often forced to abandon hopes of equitable rights when it comes to their children. He makes a powerful case for reexamining and changing the way divorce and child custody is decided in this country and levels a scathing attack at what he calls the "family law industry." When it comes to his experiences with judges, court-appointed therapists, and lawyers, Baldwin pulls no punches. He casts a light on his own divorce and the way the current family law system affected him, his ex-wife, and his daughter, as well as many other families. This is an important, informative, and deeply felt book on a contentious subject that offers hope of finding a better way.

In this study, John Kekes develops the view that good lives depend on maintaining a balance between one's moral tradition and individuality. Our moral tradition provides the forms of good lives and the permissible ways of trying to achieve them. But to do so, the author argues, we must grow in self-knowledge and self-control to make our characters suitable for realizing our aspirations. In addressing general readers as well as scholars, Kekes makes these philosophical views concrete by drawing on a rich variety of literary sources, including, among others, the works of Sophocles, Henry James, Tolstoy, and Edith Wharton. The first half of the work concentrates on social morality, establishing the conditions all good lives must meet. The second discusses personal morality, the sphere of individuality. Its development enables us to discover what is important to us and how we can fit our personal aspirations into the forms of life our moral tradition provides. Kekes's argument derives its inspiration from Aristotle's objectivism, Hume's emphasis on custom and feeling, and Mill's concentration on individuals and their experiments in living. This book is a nontechnical yet closely reasoned attempt to provide a contemporary answer to the age-old question of how to live well.

This completely revised and updated third edition of the award-winning Divorce with Decency includes the most current research, statistics, and insights on the effects of divorce on spouses, their children, and society overall. Written by a prominent divorce lawyer with more than thirty years of experience, it is the most comprehensive treatment of the legal, emotional, economic, psychological, and social aspects of marital relationships and divorce available anywhere in a single volume. Initial sections look at the dynamics of divorce: the causal factors, the common "stages" from initial separation onward, and the complications surrounding each stage for older and younger couples and children. Important information on spouse abuse is also included. The book discusses key criteria in selecting an attorney and gives expert advice on directing and monitoring the course of a case efficiently and economically. Detailed background on critical legal issues is given, followed by case histories highlighting key points of divorce law. New and extensive sections have been added to the Third Edition that provide key tips on preserving, improving, and possibly "saving" marriages. The final section, "Life after Divorce," looks at the newly divorced as they face single parenthood, new relationships, and remarriage. Informative yet highly readable (and occasionally amusing), Divorce with Decency has proven to be indispensable to anyone involved in a divorce, whether directly or indirectly.

"e;What I had done was to allow our love and our marriage to die!"e; Roger Hurrell is an experienced Methodist Minister, who during the course of his ministry has experienced a marriage break-up and divorce while his children were young. This was followed by marrying again and experiencing a complicated step-family situation.This book tells his, and his family's, story and seeks to offer both theological and practical reflection on his experiences of divorce and starting again. He poses and attempts to answer the question of whether there can be something described as "e;Christian Divorce"e;.

"That the art of life is creative, imaginative, and individual does not mean... that it cannot be taught and learned or that individuals cannot improve their mastery of it. Teaching it proceeds by way of exemplary lives, and learning it consists in coming to appreciate what makes some lives exemplary.... That imitation here is impossible does not mean one cannot learn from examples. The question is, How can that be done reasonably; how can decisions about how one should live escape being arbitrary, if they are left to individual creativity and imagination and are not governed by rules that apply to everyone living in a particular context?"—from The Art of LifeThe art of life, according to John Kekes, consists in living a life of personal and moral excellence. This art requires continuous creative effort, drawing on one's character, circumstances, experiences, and ideals. Since these conditions vary with times and places, Kekes says, there can be no single blueprint for the achievement of excellence. We must do it ourselves—but we can learn from those who have lived exemplary lives.Reflecting on lives of integrity and honor, Kekes formulates what we can learn from them and what we can do to adapt the ideals they represent to our personal circumstances. Avoiding both the abstractness that characterizes much moral thought and the relativism that recognizes no rational or moral limits, Kekes shows how serious philosophical thinking can be readable and helpful to those who struggle with the perennial problems of human existence.