There is one problem that surpasses all others in its impact on men, women, and society. It is the family father wound. We focus on the importance of mothers in determining the well-being of children. Yet, without the support of their fathers, men become disconnected from their true selves, feeling that others are controlling their lives. The family father wound may be the most pervasive, most important, and least recognized problem facing men and their families today. However, the family father wound, resulting from physical or emotional absence, has been largely ignored. Disconnected males, without a strong sense of inner guidance, can become abusive towards women and destructive towards men. We've seen this with the outpouring of sexual abuse allegations involving many prominent men.More than 20 million children live in a home without the physical presence of a father. Millions more have dads who are physically present, but emotionally absent. If it were classified as a disease, fatherlessness would be an epidemic worthy of attention as a national emergency.The male anger and rage we see in everything from domestic violence to school shootings has its roots, I believe, in trauma resulting from growing up in families with disconnected and dysfunctional fathers. Yet, this childhood wounding can be healed.My 15th book, My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound is an adventure story to find the father I lost when I was five years old. It's also a tale of redemption and healing for both my father and myself.

The family father wound may be the most pervasive, most important, and the least recognized problem facing men and their families today. Without the support of their fathers, men become disconnected from their true selves, feeling that others are controlling their lives. My distant dad: healing the family father wound is the first book to address the impact on men and women through the personal experiences of an expert on men's health.

An ambitious man and his adoring daughter are separated and estranged by an ocean and by the tides of history in this “marvelous” novel (Los Angeles Times). For Anna Schoene, growing up in the magical world of Shanghai in the 1930s creates a special bond between her and her father. He is the son of missionaries, a smuggler, and a millionaire who leads a charmed but secretive life. When the family flees to Los Angeles in the face of the Japanese occupation, he chooses to stay, believing his connections and luck will keep him safe. He’s wrong—but he survives, only to again choose Shanghai over his family during the Second World War. Anna and her father reconnect late in his life, when she finally has a family of her own, but it is only when she discovers his extensive journals that she is able to fully understand him and the reasons for his absences. The Distant Land of My Father is a “beautiful” novel “for everyone who has ever felt himself in exile from any beloved place, or a time that can never return” (The Washington Post Book World). “Seamlessly weaves together Anna’s own memories with those of her father, gleaned from the journals . . . An elegant, refined story of families, wartime, and the mystique of memory.” —Kirkus Reviews “Vivid with details of prewar Shanghai and Los Angeles.” —Publishers Weekly “Lush and epic.” —San Jose Mercury News “Remarkable . . . A moving tale of love and the possibility of forgiveness.” —Library Journal

Where Was Daddy When You Needed Him? The absence of fathers is an epidemic plaguing our society, affecting families from every corner of our world and from all walks of life. Whether our fathers left us entirely during our childhood or were physically present but emotionally distant, those who missed out on an affirming, intimate father-love continue to experience the devastating consequences of that loss. • Are you angry at the world and don’t know why? • Do you inadvertently sabotage relationships or smother those closest to you? • Do you rarely take risks or step out on faith? • Is there an undercurrent of anxiety in most tasks you perform? • Do you struggle to connect with God? • Do you have little or no self-confidence–or minimal self-worth? For women who answer yes to these questions, the common denominator is often an absent father. Far too many daughters have been stripped of a healthy relationship with their earthly dad. But real healing is within your reach. Discover how the absence of your father has impacted your entire life–your attitude, your actions, your beliefs, your decisions, and your identity–and learn how you can stop resulting negative behaviors, beak free, and experience a confidence-building, empowering love that will heal your hurts and fulfill your deepest longings.

From the prize-winning Chilean novelist Antonio Skármeta, author of Il Postino, comes this soulful novella about a son and his estranged father Jacques is a schoolteacher in a small Chilean village, and a French translator for the local paper. He owes his passion for the French language to his Parisian father, Pierre, who, one year before, abruptly returned to France without a word of explanation. Jacques and his mother's sense of abandonment is made more acute by their isolation in this small community where few read or think. While Jacques finds distraction in a crush on his student's older sister, his preoccupation with his father's disappearance continues to haunt him. But there is often more to a story than the torment it causes. This one is about forgiveness and second chances.

From the author of the New York Times Well Blog series, My Fat Dad Every story and every memory from my childhood is attached to food… Dawn Lerman spent her childhood constantly hungry. She craved good food as her father, 450 pounds at his heaviest, pursued endless fad diets, from Atkins to Pritikin to all sorts of freeze-dried, saccharin-laced concoctions, and insisted the family do the same—even though no one else was overweight. Dawn’s mother, on the other hand, could barely be bothered to eat a can of tuna over the sink. She was too busy ferrying her other daughter to acting auditions and scolding Dawn for cleaning the house (“Whom are you trying to impress?”). It was chaotic and lonely, but Dawn had someone she could turn to: her grandmother Beauty. Those days spent with Beauty, learning to cook, breathing in the scents of fresh dill or sharing the comfort of a warm pot of chicken soup, made it all bearable. Even after Dawn’s father took a prestigious ad job in New York City and moved the family away, Beauty would send a card from Chicago every week—with a recipe, a shopping list, and a twenty-dollar bill. She continued to cultivate Dawn’s love of wholesome food, and ultimately taught her how to make her own way in the world—one recipe at a time. In My Fat Dad, Dawn reflects on her colorful family and culinary-centric upbringing, and how food shaped her connection to her family, her Jewish heritage, and herself. Humorous and compassionate, this memoir is an ode to the incomparable satisfaction that comes with feeding the ones you love.

"Reading My Father" is an intimate, moving, and beautifully written portrait of the novelist William Styron by his daughter, Alexandra.

Far from being disposable, as some contemporary voices would have us believe, fathers play a crucial role in the lives of their children. When denied meaningful contact with their fathers, either physically or emotionally, a gaping hole or "father hunger" emerges in the child's psyche, from what it experiences as desertion. If left unfulfilled, this father hunger triggers pronounced psychological patterns consigning that child to personal and professional dead-ends as an adult. Father hunger manifests itself in many forms such as workaholic, substance abuse, chronic depression, sexual promiscuity, violent behavior, food addiction, and an inability to sustain intimate relationships. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Beth Erickson helps readers and therapists identify and pinpoint the causes of father hunger and explore the spiritual crises that unresolved losses such as this generate. Provocative exercises present strategies for resolving these losses and escaping the cycle of anguish. Longing for Dad is a roadmap to a pace of comfort and hope for anyone suffering from physical or emotional father loss and will help new fathers provide their children with a strong foundation for a healthy, well-balanced adulthood.

A trusted counselor helps readers move from heartache to joy as they overcome the wounds from a missing, abusive, or absent father.

The father factor is the conscious understanding, awareness, and appreciation of the critical influence that your father had, still has, or could have in your career development and future potential. Noting that the father-son or father-daughter relationship is one of the least understood relationships in adult life, Dr. Poulter helps you become acutely aware of the immeasurable impact (negative or positive) that your father has on your ability to relate to other people. From this recognition you will also learn to move past the career roadblocks that frequently stem from the lingering effects of your father''s influence. Defining five main styles of fathering, Dr. Poulter devotes a chapter each to: The Superachiever Father The Time Bomb Father The Passive Father The Absent Father (whether physically or emotionally) The Compassionate / Mentor Father. By becoming aware of how your father related to you, particularly in a destructive relationship, you''ll understand how your career relationships in many ways mirror your degree of comfort with your father''s emotional legacy. In this way, career roadblocks-often based on interactions with people on the job-will be more easily transformed into career building blocks that will lead to advancement and success.