What interests me as much as anything about this new book dealing with the effect of fathers upon their sons is the cover. There, down in a tiny corner, is Franz Kafka. He apparently will hold his own with Ben Franklin and Osama bin Laden.

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Loser SonsPolitics and Authority

A chip off the old block, and a disastrous chip on the shoulder

There are sons who grow up unhappily believing that no matter what they do, they cannot please their fathers. Often unable to shed their sense of lifelong failure, either they give up and suffer in a permanent sulk, or they try with all their might to prove they are worth something after all. These are the "loser sons," a group of historical men as varied as President George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden, and Mohammed Atta. Their names quickly illustrate that not only are their problems serious, but they also make serious problems for others, expanding to whole nations. When God is conceived and inculcated as an angry and impossible-to-please father, the problems can last for generations.

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http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/53pde4nm97802520366464.html