This is a book about fathers who are caring for babies and young children – fathers who are stepping up to do the work more often associated with mothers. Ranson draws on an innovative combination of data sources, notably observations of, and interviews with, caregiving fathers, as well as analyses of fathers' memoirs and online blogs. From accounts of fathers in Canada, the UK, the US and Australia, the book shows what happens to men, as fathers, as partners, and as men, when they take on this kind of direct, hands-on care of their children. The experience, for most men, is transformative. They become deeply attached to the children in their care, and committed to engaged involvement in family life over the long haul. They don't become mothers, but they challenge many stereotypes about men and masculinity as they become competent in a new kind of embodied practice.
