Frank Schaeffer - Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy

Frank Schaeffer

Bestselling author of Crazy for God

Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy

Frank Schaeffer excels at understanding his own experiences and how they reflect our world. He is smart, thoughtful, and funny, too! Wonderful book.

Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prizewinning novelist, essayist, and biographer

In Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be HappySchaeffers new tour de forcehe makes the bold argument that we should focus on living meaningful lives rather than making money and seeking validation from our jobs. Schaeffers argument takes him down paths that will surprise, delight, and even shock readers. This is an essential read. I hope it starts a new movement.

Charlotte Gordon, author of Romantic Outlaws: The Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award

Frank Schaeffers book Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy, has all the ingredients for a successful life, but is the opposite of what is being sold in our culture. May we see a transformation in our lifetime, if not, in our childrens lifetime, and for future generations, as we cannot continue down this path of isolation, struggle, and greed.

Johanna (Jos) Zeilstra, CEO, Gender Fair, a Public Benefit Corporation; board member and former Wall Street executive, specializing in helping companies improve on gender equity and diversity

Frank Schaeffer has written a revolutionary manifesto for our deeply troubled world. Reading this book feels like time spent with a wise, challenging, sometimes cantankerous friend who, like Rilkes Archaic Torso of Apollo is looking back at you with a simple demand: Change your life.

Laura Dawn, filmmaker; founding cultural director, MoveOn.org; founder and CEO, ART NOT WAR

Youve really got something here. Hope everyone recognizes how badly Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy is needed by the rest of the country now more than ever. I really like it! Basically, love, dummy!

Myrna Perez Sheldon, professor of Classics and World Religions, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Ohio University; editor of Cosmologics Magazine

Frank Schaeffer has been an important voice to me personally on so many topics, from religion to politics to how to bring up children. But Frank is also a deeply committed father and grandfather, and his insights on family connections are profound. Franks book encourages us to push back against the ideals of our culture, to prioritize time and connection over success and ego. In Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy, Frank makes his compelling case through both research and deeply touching anecdotes from his life as a doting grandfather. This book is a deeply needed and timely exploration of what it means to be a good human.

Kristen Howerton, marriage and family therapist, author of Rage Against the Minivan

Reading Frank Schaeffer is a journey into a mind and heart shaped by powerful religious forces few of us can imagine. Liberated from a fundamentalist Christian past, Frank refuses to be angry and bitter. Instead, he uses his awesome gifts (as filmmaker, painter, poet, blogger, columnist, TV personality, and bestselling author) to confront and condemn the evil family values he inherited and at the same timeas in this bookhelp us imagine a whole new set of real family values built on love that are absolutely necessary if we are to survive the next wave of fundamentalism sweeping our nation.

Mel White, leader in the LGBTQ community and author of Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America

Frank Schaeffer is one of my favorite authors. He brings wisdom, wit, and warmth to whatever he writes. His new book goes to the heart of everything, really, inviting us to fall in love with what matters most. Its like a feast of sanity in these crazy times.

Brian D. McLaren, speaker, activist, and author of Faith After Doubt

When the cerebral power and control structure of the nepotistic sidekick meets up with the heartfelt longing to nurture vulnerable living beings with openness, spontaneity, humor, and protectiveness, Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy is inevitable. Who knew that a pandemic could so profoundly alter a human beings definition of success? Motherhood comes in many forms and bodies, and Frank Schaeffers lived experience is that capitalism has ripped the mothering impulse from so many hearts and bodies, especially men. For the sake of our children, our planet, and the deepest humanity in all of us, it must be reclaimed, championed, and practiced. None of the directives in the books title can be fully experienced unless we allow nurturing care to redefine our identity, our values, and our purpose for being alive on this Earth. As a feminist and a recovering evangelical, I am deeply indebted to you for writing this book.

Carolyn Baker, author of Confronting Cristofascism: Healing the Evangelical Wound and Sacred Demise: Walking the Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilizations Collapse

This book is dedicated to my wife, my three children, five grandchildren, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, and granddaughter-in-law: Genie, Jessica, Francis, John, Amanda, Ben, Lucy, Jack, Nora, Becky, Dani, and Claire.

They are the only reason this book (or I) exist.

T hank you to the friends and family who read and reread this book offering notes, critiques, and new information during a five-year process while I researched and wrote twenty-seven drafts.

Thank you:

David Higgins, supporter of progressive causes, who provided the grants that allowed me the time to research this book;

Jennifer Lyons, my agent and friend of twenty-plus years, for sticking with me;

Christine Belleris, my talented and kind editor at HCI, who provided so much support and asked all the right questions;

Lindsey Mach, my tireless publicist at HCI;

Christian Blonshine, vice president of HCI, who has been so supportive and personally involved in helping to turn this book into a reality;

Thank you, Larissa Henoch, for a brilliant book cover and interior design;

Mary Ellen Hettinger, HCI copyeditor, who went the extra mile by not only copyediting this book but asking useful and inspiring questions that helped me clarify what I am trying to say;

Anders Lindgren, musician and friend, who read the very first rough draft many years ago and encouraged me to keep going;

Paul Hawley, provider of fresh editorial eyes looking over many drafts;

Myrna Perez Sheldon, friend, scientist, and university professor, who read four drafts and inspired, edited, and added;

Claire Depit, my granddaughter-in-law and political science student, who read the book two times and gave me great suggestions;

Genie Schaeffer, my partner in everything for fifty-one years: wife, lover, first and last reader of all my books, wise counselor, and best friend;

John Schaeffer, my son (and co-author of another book with me), who read this book twice and offered notes and encouragement;