With this background in place, the Gores spend the rest of the book laying out a vast landscape of challenges in which today's families negotiate their emotional connections. In chapters on work, play, communication and other topics, they bounce quickly from one issue to the next. For example, in "For Richer, For Poorer," we move from homelessness to poverty to the consumer culture, shopping as a leisure activity, the role of advertising in making us want things we can't afford, the role of the media in setting the "keeping up with the Joneses" bar ever higher, common misunderstandings about Social Security, the revelation that credit cards are "the cocaine of consumer debt," a lamentation about too many cars and not enough public transportation, and the disparagement of our health care system. Whew. It's a fascinating gallop-but I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with the information.

In fact, where are the Gores in all this? In their concluding chapter, they give a once-over-lightly of some policy positions (reform of public education, universal public preschool, more environmental controls), take a couple swipes at Bush policy proposals, and urge families to be more involved in the political process. They occasionally draw on their own experience to illustrate a point they wish they make, with mixed results. Tipper, raised largely by her grandparents after her parents' divorce, reminds us that her mother struggled with mental illness and relates her own experience as a stepchild after her father remarried. Al's birth family is presented briefly as an iconic ideal. The anecdotes drawn from their own nuclear family are a little too flattering, and usually off point to boot.

The book is devoid of any "smartest family in school" attitude, for which we should be grateful (probably to Tipper.) But I found myself wanting policy-guy Al to step up with some new ideas I could grab hold of. Instead, I learned that the Gores believe the first step our country must take to help families is to change the way we think about families-and perhaps that is the contribution this book is intended to make. If so, it accomplishes its goal. --Lola Butcher