Stephanie Coontz to Hold Book Signing Event at Evergreen May 4

(Olympia, Wash.)– Stephanie Coontz, emeritus faculty member at The Evergreen State College, recently released her seventh book The Way We Still Never Were: Another Quarter Century of Family Change and Diversity and will discuss myths of the American family during a reading and singing event, Wednesday, May 4, 5-6 pm. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the college’s Bookstore, in the College Activities Building (CAB) on Evergreen’s Olympia Campus, 2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW. Refreshments and open seating will be provided. Parking is $2.

Coontz’s new book reveals how much has changed in the 25 years since she first wrote her award-winning book, The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap (1992), including what she got right, what she got wrong, and what she failed to predict entirely.

“Much has changed for American families in the 25 years since the book first appeared,” said Coontz. “The most dramatic transformation has been the cultural and legal about-face regarding same-sex marriage. The prospect of legalized same-sex marriages seemed far off even when the second edition was published in 2000.”

“What happens to American families in the future depends on choices we make right now,” she added. “We can protect families by providing better economic and social supports that allow them to take advantage of the real improvements in parent-child and male-female relations we've seen in the past 25 years. Or we can keep on exposing them to the hardships of our current economic climate.”

Coontz has testified before Congress, debated family values crusaders on shows such as Oprah, and had her research cited in the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. She’s been called “America’s most respected scholar of marriage and families” (London Observer).

Stephanie Coontz has taught at Evergreen since 1975 and, in addition to being a foremost expert on American families and history of marriage, she also helped pioneer the unique pedagogy that was developed by Evergreen in the 1970s and that is still employed by the college today.

The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington is a public liberal arts and sciences college nationally recognized for its distinctive interdisciplinary approach, strong academics and focus on undergraduate teaching. The college also has an upper division bachelor’s degree program in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. In addition to undergraduate education, Evergreen offers three graduate degrees: Master in Teaching, Master of Environmental Studies and Master of Public Administration (including a distinctive tribal governance concentration). www.evergreen.edu