ABSTRACT
WHY THIS BOOK? Why are we (John Harvey and Mark Fine) writing this book? We developed this book because the loss of our close, intimate relationships is a daunting, sometimes devastating experience that each of us will experience in life. It also has been occurring at a contagious rate since 1980 in this society, now stretching to most parts of the Western world. All of us will experience such losses in the form of breakups of romantic relations, and millions of us will be directly affected by divorce in our lives. All of us will be affected at least indirectly by cultural changes attributable to divorce (e.g., see discussion in this chapter about the increased role of grandparents in taking on primary parenting duties in the 21st century).
