BEAUTIFUL NATE

Conservative family-values spokesperson shares the honest, heartrending story of his beloved son and how even when you follow all the "rules," life can go very wrong.

Dennis Mansfield, and his wife Susan, planned for and expected every parent's dream, but instead lived every parent's nightmare. This haunting memoir tells the story of a father who diligently followed all the parenting rules that he learned from conservative Christian "experts"; yet life with his son Nate went terribly wrong.

Beautiful Boy is the deeply personal and highly transparent account of the life and death of twenty-seven-year-old Nate Mansfield. Written by his father, Dennis Mansfield, a national leader in the pro-family movement of the 1990s, the book clearly and cogently paints a picture of what did and did not work in raising a child within the confident evangelical framework of books, tapes, and conferences. As Dennis writes, “We did it all and it still didn’t work.” It wasn't that the principles they had adhered to were faulty; it was that the promised guarantee turned out to be void.

But rather than losing his faith and abandoning the God he'd trusted, Dennis held tight and eventually found new joy and purpose--with a much more compassionate and realistic view of the role parents play and the rules they follow.

As readers travel with Dennis on his journey of discovery, they will find a more compassionate and understanding view of parenting and will gain valuable insights into dealing with their own difficult times, as well.