A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey Through Fatherhood and Divorce

An excellent book about the detriment occurring to children around the world everyday. Parental Alienation is child abuse. The scars are there, they can't be seen like physical abuse, but they are everlasting. Alec does a great job of sharing the very sad reality of the child abuse that is allowed, supported, and in some case encouraged by our sad, inadequate legal system.

Many people may read this book and believe it could not be true. Believe it or not, there are far worse stories than this that happen everyday.
Perhaps Alec could produce a movie next, based upon someone else's true story. The public must be made more aware to get the state legislatures to actually do something about this abuse to children.

Thank you for increasing awareness to the issues so many "Target" parents and their innocent children face from the Alienating Parent.

Alec Baldwin has written an important book showing the painful side of divorce in a court system that routinely strips fathers of their dignity and parental rights. His book shows the reality of experiences countless fathers in America experience while suffering in silence. But, Alec Baldwin has shown the strength to speak out about these injustices and parental alienation. Alec Baldwin's book seems to me to be an important and powerful philosophical sequel to fathers' rights by the famed fathers' rights attorney Jeffery Leving.

I want to thank Mr. Baldwin for the excellent book! My husband went thru the very same thing with his former wife 20 years ago. Wish we would have had Mr. Baldwin's book then. Why do the courts not take into consideration the child's best intrest? My husbands daughter was left in the hands of a abusive mother, who was queen of "PAS." (Parental Alienation Syndrome.) The judge left her with the mother, because "a girl should be living with the mother." In the meantime the mother took off and we didn't see his daughter for over 5 years. Everytime we would go to court (she was in contempt of court) the judge basically shrugged her shoulders. Such a shame. This book should be a must read for all judges.

Page upon page of how Baldwin was wronged by everyone. Excuses for all of his bad behavior. A complete failure to look at why things were so expensive and protracted or any part he may have played in it. It's the courts, the attorneys, my ex-wife, feminists, and on and on. I've seen more introspection in fourth graders' diaries. I was really hoping to get a more balanced, well thought out book about the journey through a public, painful divorce. I didn't. I got interminable whining. This dreck is a complete waste of paper, ink, and readers' time.

I am very sorry for the personal suffering that brought Alec Baldwin to the point where he felt compelled to write this book but I am very happy to see the increased attention and awareness of the widespread but little understood problem of parental alienation. My own research on adults who had this experience as children (Adult children of parental alienation syndrome: Breaking the ties that bind, WW Norton) reveals the extent to which being a child victim of PAS brings with it long-term negative consequences. It is time for society to recognize and address this problem before more parents and children become its victims. Alec Baldwin's book is well written and compelling and I think he will help people see that if someone with as many resources as he has can suffer the frustrations and indignities of being a targeted parent, it can happen to anyone. I am also glad that he makes the point that it can happen to mothers as well as fathers. My research consistently finds this to be true.

Amy J.L. Baker, Ph.D.
www.amyjlbaker.com