David Reiss presents a new model of family interaction grounded in the subtle and complex way in which a family constructs its inner life and deals with the outside world. Based upon fifteen years of research, the book offers a new understanding of the covert processes that hold a family together and, with distressing frequency, pull it apart.

"This is a beautifully written and significant book, a profound contribution to our understanding of the family… For every social scientist’s shelf." - Contemporary Sociology

"This is a very important book, which should have a major influence not only on the field of family therapy, but psychiatry in general… [Reiss’s] experiments are ingenious, his observations are astute, his methodology sophisticated, his analyses complex but technically correct, his theoretical formulations precise and articulate, his discussion astute, and his logic persuasive." - Contemporary Psychiatry

"This book is a most significant and original contribution. The research is exceptional in its conception, planning, and findings… Reiss’s scholarship is of astounding scope." - Contemporary Psychology