Dad

New Republic TV critic, NYT Magazine contributor, and embarrassing dad Phillip Maciak tells the bumbling, beautiful story of modern fatherhood through the famous (and infamous) TV dads who brought it to life on-screen. There are good dads and bad dads, rich dads and poor dads. . . . A little clueless, but maybe a little wise. Embarrassing, but unembarrassed. Since at least the beginning of the twentieth century, Dad has been the name of an instantly recognizable, ubiquitous American cultural idea. Way more than just a synonym for father, it’s a style, a parenting philosophy, an all-purpose adjective, even a kind of masculinity. Through periods of massive social change, the “dad” has been a revealing stand-in for the way America feels about itself; and journalist Phillip Maciak has written its biography. Dad: A TV Pop History tracks the development of this father figure by paying attention to some of its most compelling small-screen avatars: suburban grill masters like Ward Cleaver; goofball galoots from Herman Munster to Homer Simpson; hardheaded Archie Bunker; softhearted Danny Tanner; regal and righteous Uncle Phil; and all the antihero dads (and godfathers) of prestige TV from Tony Soprano to Don Draper. Dad also considers the online icons and influencers helping to shape the politics of fatherhood today, and current shows like Adolescence, DTF St. Louis, and Ted Lasso that show us the perils and possibilities of dadhood right now. Part cultural history, part cultural criticism, part personal reckoning, Dad: A Pop History is an entertaining, revelatory, sometimes humiliating journey into the heart of dadness.