ABSTRACT
Fatherhood has a very long history, but virtually no historians. Its only invariant aspect is the biological one; all else is fluid and changing. No two individuals father in precisely the same way; similarly, no two cultures, or historical epochs, support identical styles of fathering. Of course, there is always overlap—shared elements of purpose, of practice, and of emotional style—especially in adjacent settings. Moreover, where the settings are historically adjacent, we may reasonably expect continuities as well as contrasts. Still, the point remains that fatherhood, no less than other parts of human experience, bends to the passage of time.
