It is easy to find alarming statistics on escalating violence, addiction and economic inequality in developed countries and stubborn poverty in the third world. The fascinating question has to do with cause. New York Times #1 bestselling authors Richard and Linda Eyre's new book The Turning: Why the State of the Family Matters and What the World Can Do about It contends that the social and economic challenges faced not only in the United States, but throughout the world, are the direct result of an unprecedented and widespread turning away from family. The negative effects of this turning are apparent in the youth of the world today: In Sao Paulo, Brazil, more than 1.2 million "street children" are addicted to cocaine; Suicide is the third leading cause of death for American fifteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds; Great Ormond Street Hospital in London has treated girls as young as seven or eight for eating disorders; In Ethiopia, nearly half of the children under the age of six work 30-hour weeks; and In the past year there have been over 64 school shootings in the U.S., equaling more than one shooting a week. The Turning uses research findings, statistics (like those listed above), and the Eyres' personal experiences at home and abroad to show that families are essential to the survival and success of civilization. With the well-being of the world at risk, The Turning will move readers in a way that will raise personal reflection, discussion, and action to return the family to its necessary position as the recognized and prioritized basic unit of society. But far more than a book of statistics and political suggestions, this is a book for parents-parents who want to better understand the world their children are growing up in and who want to create a family culture that is stronger than the internet culture, the peer culture, and all the other influences that flurry around our children every day. As Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat opened our eyes to the cause-and-effect aspects of the global economy, The Turning will open the eyes of readers across the world to the means-and-ends connections between stable families and households and the world's ability to meet its social and economic challenges. As Harvard's Clayton Christensen and best-selling author of The Innovator's Dilemma states, "This book gives us a common cause, and a clear way to frame and explain the causality of today's problems." In the spirit of Friedman's The World is Flat, Richard and Linda Eyre examine the connections between the world's mounting social problems and the breakdown of families and look deeply at the root causes of family disintegration-the false paradigms that confuse the priorities of parents and influence the kind of policies and practices in larger institutions (from media to government) that threaten families both economically and emotionally.
