What is fatherhood? Where have we inherited our ideas of fatherhood from? What does it mean to be a dad today? Chronicling the stories and struggles of some of history''s most famous fathers, historian Augustine Sedgewick lays bare how successive generations of men have shaped our understanding of what it means to be a father. From the Bronze Age fathers whose only use to their families was the food they could hunt, and the moment Aristotle put pen to papyrus and laid the foundations of the patriarchy, to Charles Darwin''s theory of sexual selection and Bob Dylan''s poetic take down of ''The Man'', Fatherhood is an ambitious exploration of sex, money, power and love, and the story of how men have become fathers and dads in their turn. An ambitious and thought-provoking history of masculinity and family, Fatherhood dares to offer a more caring and affirmative vision of the roles men currently play in society. _____ Praise for Augustine Sedgewick''s Coffeeland : ''Thoroughly engrossing'' - Michael Pollan ''Wonderful, energizing'' - The Guardian ''Gripping'' - The Spectator ''Eye-opening'' - The Economist

Autorentext
Augustine Sedgewick is the author of Coffeeland: A History, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and the winner of Italy’s Cherasco History Prize. He earned his doctorate at Harvard University and lives in New York City with his son. Fatherhood is his second book.

Klappentext

**An Economist Book of the Year 2025

An ambitious history of masculinity and family, from the Bronze Age to the modern day, Fatherhood dares to offer a more caring and affirmative vision of the roles men currently play in society.**

'Superbly intelligent . . . a rewarding Sapiens-style big history' - The Sunday Times

'A lightness of touch that recalls Bill Bryson or Craig Brown at their non-fiction best' - The Observer

What is fatherhood, and where did it come from? How has the role of men in families and society changed across thousands of years? What does the history of fatherhood reveal about what it means to be a dad today?

From the anxious philosophers of ancient Athens and Henry VIII's obsessive quest for an heir, to Charles Darwin's theories of human origins, Bob Dylan's take down of 'The Man', and beyond, Sedgewick shows how successive generations of men have shaped our understanding of what it means to be and have a father, and in turn our ideas of who we are, where we come from and what we are capable of.

Zusammenfassung
A sweeping but intimate history - from the Bronze Age to the modern day - exploring where our inherited ideas of fatherhood have come from, how the role has changed over the centuries, and what it now means to be a dad.