Real and Imaginary Fathers: Development, Transference, and Healing (Margaret S. Mahler)

"This is a day and age of diminished presence of the nuclear family, a high incidence of divorce, multiple diverse family arrangements, an increase in single-parent families, and an abundance of childhood distress. Absent fathers are ubiquitous. It has become urgent, demanding, pressing that we understand the father’s contribution and what is lost in his absence. It requires our immediate and most serious attention."
—Ruth M.S. Fischer