You can read my full review at Quieted Waters.

Douglas Wilson is nothing if not forthright. You will know his opinion in the first few pages of any book, and Wilson will never pull a punch. In Father Hunger, Wilson begins by writing these two things:

"In order for a man and a woman to enjoy the same good marriage, they must each fulfill very different roles." (7), and, "All men are called, like Adam our first father, to provide for their families and to protect their families." (9)

If you are on board with those two statements and are okay with strong, unabashed criticisms of other views, you will love Wilson's newest book on fatherhood. Wilson's goal in this book is to expound upon why masculine fatherhood is essential -- essential to the father's children, to the family as a whole, and to society at large.

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In Father Hunger, Douglas Wilson addresses the current generation’s lack of comprehension of fatherhood. Many, however, do not recognize the dearth as the problem. In fact, many do not believe it exists. He writes, “As we look around, we know that we are broken, but we somehow assume that our notions of fatherhood are intact… Perhaps our world is as broken as it is because our understanding of fatherhood was shattered first” (2).

Never one to shy away from controversy, Wilson jumps into the shark-infested waters of gender roles almost immediately and declares the problem as he sees it. “Much of what will be argued throughout the course of this book will not seem very enlightened or progressive to today’s average reader, and so we must begin by addressing the problems created by something called egalitarianism” (5). Modern culture’s failure to clearly articulate and understand equality has led to dramatic problems.

Men and women, according to Wilson, are equal in the sense that they are to be given the same treatment in such arenas as a court of law, but the right to the same treatment does not, in fact, mean that they are the same. He explains, “A man might be called up to take care of all his tools, treating them all with the same kind of respect. But treating a hammer with respect and a screwdriver with respect means treating them differently – you don’t twist screws with a hammer and you don’t drive nails with the handle of a screwdriver” (6-7).

After making an initial proclamation of society’s ills, Wilson then traces the lack of true masculinity – genuine fathers – through various arenas and enterprises including religion, education, government, the workplace, and economics revealing society’s longing and need for such a thing. However controversial Wilson may be (and he has ruffled many feathers), one cannot accuse him of a failure to be thorough.
Chapter 13, “Some Father Mechanics,” is worth the price of the book alone.

While I found myself repeatedly nodding my head, making notes to myself, and committing to become a better father throughout this book, chapter 13 provided insight to some of my greatest weaknesses as a father. Naturally, this was terrifying and convicting, and was both my favorite and least-favorite chapter in the entire book. As a father of five children (four boys), I simply cannot afford to get this wrong.

You will undoubtedly find disagreement with portions of this book. The author’s opinions do not lack for conviction. He articulates those opinions clearly and forcefully. But despite whatever points of disagreement one finds, the message is clear. We suffer from father hunger. Our society, our culture, our workplaces and churches need men. They need men who are willing to be men – not in the feminine sense that society has attempted to shape us, nor in the obscene machismo that has risen as a response – but in the manner in which God has created them for and called them to.

Doug Wilson points out that the lack of fathers is not the problem in rather it is a symptom of a greater problem. The problem is that we do not worship God as the God the Father. We do not worship or teach the Fatherhood of the Triune God and as a result we are left with a father-vacuum.

I would strongly recommend this book to church leaders and parents raising children. Father Hunger teaches theology that satisfies the soul. ( )

http://jvpearce.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-review-father-hunger.html ( )

Fatherlessness is a "rot that is eating away at the modern soul," writes Douglas Wilson, and the problem goes far beyond physical absence. "Most of our families are starving for fathers, even if Dad is around, and there's a huge cost to our children and our society because of it." Father Hunger takes a thoughtful, timely, richly engaging excursion into our cultural chasm of absentee fatherhood. Blending leading-edge research with incisive analysis and real-life examples, Wilson:

Traces a range of societal ills―from poverty and crime to joyless feminism and paternalistic government expansion―to a vacuum of mature masculinity
Explains the key differences between asserting paternal authority and reestablishing true spiritual fathering
Uncovers the corporate-fulfillment fallacy and other mistaken assumptions that undermine fatherhood
Extols the benefits of restoring fruitful fathering, from stronger marriages to greater economic liberty

Filled with practical ideas and self-evaluation tools, Father Hunger both encourages and challenges men to "embrace the high calling of fatherhood," becoming the dads that their families and our culture so desperately need them to be. ( )