Book excerpt: Meet the men and women whose groundbreaking work elevated the field of family studies! In Pioneering Paths in the Study of Families: The Lives and Careers of Family Scholars, you'll find 40 autobiographies written by leading scholars in sociology, family studies, psychology, and child development. Their fascinating stories demonstrate how their family experiences, educational opportunities, and occupational endeavors not only shaped the disciplines they chose but also shaped the theoretical perspectives they utilized and the topics they researched. From the editors: “These autobiographies document the experiences of scholars from the early twentieth century to the present. The descriptions of early influences on their education, of their graduate school experiences, and of their academic career paths, provides a wealth of valuable material. Since four of these scholars have died and a number are in their eighties or older, these histories provide rich case studies on factors that influence the decision to go to college, get married, pursue an advanced degree, make specific occupational choices, and investigate certain topics. These autobiographies also detail the barriers that early women scholars in the social sciences faced.” The scholars whose lives you will learn about in Pioneering Paths in the Study of Families include: Joan Aldous Katherine R. Allen Pauline Boss Carlfred B. Broderick Wesley R. Burr Catherine Street Chilman Harold T. Christensen Marilyn Coleman Rand D. Conger Randal D. Day William J. Doherty Evelyn Millis Duvall Glen H. Elder, Jr. Bernard Farber Margaret Feldman Mark A. Fine Greer Litton Fox Frank F. Furstenberg Viktor Gecas Harold D. Grotevant Gerald Handel Michael E. Lamb Ralph LaRossa Gary R. Lee Helena Znaniecka Lopata Harriette P. McAdoo Hamilton McCubbin Brent C. Miller Phyllis Moen Gerhard Neubeck Gary W. Peterson Ira L. Reiss John Scanzoni Walter R. Schumm Barbara H. Settles Laurence Steinberg Suzanne K. Steinmetz Sheldon Stryker Marvin B. Sussman Irv Tallman