'In this crisp volume, drawing on almost two decades of work on the subject, David Archard offers a compelling "qualified" liberal defence of the family. A response to philosophical and practical challenges to the family, this work expands a tradition with roots in John Locke, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls and Susan Moller Okin and engages the range of contemporary English-language liberal political philosophy, the family, and current policy debates the book could well serve as the standard elaboration of a popular, if somehwat narrow, perspective.' - Tamara Metz, Reed College, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 'One (among the many) merits.is that it brings into light the numerous, and sometimes unexpected, implications of a liberal approach to the family.' - Metapsychology.