Fathers can be fairly enigmatic, generally speaking. Even the movies and books depict them as everything from bumbling to emotionally unavailable.
The historian Augustine Sedgewick has written a book titled Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power. In it he shows the ways in which the story of fathers is the story of humanity’s great virtues—with the father as the representative of a family’s very survival and morality. It is also the story of how social hierarchy and patriarchy are intertwined.
Sedgewick tells the story of fatherhood through the lives of emblematic fathers in history—from Aristotle to Thomas Jefferson and Charles Darwin to Sigmund Freud. He shows how Western masculinity evolved and men reinforced and expanded the role of fathers in times of crisis and change.
The story of fathers—even absent ones—becomes the story of families. Sedgewick takes us on a journey across generations to learn more about this person who has such a significant influence on our lives.
We all have stories about fathers. Even the absence of a father makes up a narrative about a father.
Relationships with fathers are so full of complication, nuance, and conflict. But more public tales of fatherhood can be simplistic, melodramatic, imbued with fantasy or mythology. The distorted idea of fatherhood can have serious consequences.
Men and boys are in crisis today. Even though the role of a father is as protector and provider, there is much more to say about fathers as members of a family and indeed as members of society.
Guest:
Augustine Sedgewick is the author of Coffeeland, winner of the 2022 Cherasco International Prize and a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection. He earned his doctorate at Harvard University, and his research on the global history of capitalism, work, food, and family has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, among others. His latest book is Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power, published by Simon and Schuster.
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This discussion will be recorded on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
