David Popenoe is professor of sociology and associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University. Jean Bethke Elshtain is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of social and political ethics at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago and the author of numerous books on women, politics, and the family. David Blankenhorn is the president of the Institute for American Values.

An enormous contribution by an impressive set of family scholars. Promises to Keep is packed with information and should be 'must reading' for family researchers, students, religious leaders, mental health professionals and policy makers.

• Part 1 The DecLine of MarriageChapter 2 The Decline of Marriage as the Social Basis of ChildrearingChapter 3 Values, Attitudes, and the State of American MarriageChapter 4 Myths of Marriage and FamilyChapter 5 Comparative and Historical Perspectives on Marriage, Divorce, and Family LifeChapter 6 Decline of the Family: Conservative, Liberal, and Feminist ViewsPart 7 Religious, Legal, and Clinical DimensionsChapter 8 Biology, Ethics, and Narrative in Christian Family TheoryChapter 9 Postmodern Family Law: Toward a New Model of StatusChapter 10 The Law and the Stability of Marriage: The Family as a Social InstitutionChapter 11 Parenting from Separate HouseholdsPart 12 Rebuilding A Marriage CultureChapter 13 Re-creating MarriageChapter 14 Modern Marriage: Revising the Cultural ScriptChapter 15 The Reinstitutionalization of Marriage: Political Theory and Public PolicyPart 16 Marriage in America: A Report to the NationChapter 17 Marriage in America: A Report to the NationChapter 18 Afterword