Dennis Saleebey is a professor at the School of Social Welfare and chair of the Ph.D. program at the University of Kansas. He is the author of The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice, Third Edition.

• Preface Introduction Philosophical principles Conceptual frameworks Integrative themes Paradigms, postmodernism, and possibilities M & M dialogue Meaning-making Self Culture Story, connection, ritual and myth M & M dialogue Strengths and Resilience Strengths and resilience: images of altruism and humanity Power in the people: Strengths and hope M & M dialogue Biopsychosocial Understanding Human nature and the human condition Genes and experience: The case of temperament The brain and behavior: The biopsychosocial view M & M dialogue Nature and Nurture; Neurons and Narratives Nature and nurture: How necessary are parents? Nature Nurture Neurons and narratives: A biopsychosocial understanding of mental illness M & M dialogues Theories: Part I The elements of theory Part/whole analysis Psychodynamic theory Critique of psychodynamic theory M & M dialogues Theories: Part II Ecological theory Critique of ecological theory Cognitive theory Cognitive theories and the environment Critique of cognitive approaches Radical/critical theory The terms and conditions of radical/critical theory Critique of radical/critical theory Conclusion M & M dialogues Families: The Variety of Us The family and society today: What's up? The family and community What are families for? The care and feeding of infants Socialization What is a family? Nuclear family A note on social class and family Single-parent families Extended families Dual earner families Remarried families Couples Gay and lesbian families Family resilience Conclusion M & M Dialogue Growing Up in the Community and World: Part I A contextual model of family transition and adaptation Becoming partners and being a couple I love your genes A new human being joins the family Culture: Africentric childrearing The early processes that make us human Culture, again Where's dad? When things go awry Being homeless Conclusion M & M dialogue Growing up in the Family and Community: Part II Middle childhood: The forgotten years Moral development Peers and groups Siblings School and family; play and work Meaning and community A note on ADHD Conclusion M & M dialogue Growing Up in the Family and Community: Part III Sturm and drang or "the romance of risk" Identity formation: Gender and culture Gender and identity Sexuality Risks and resiliency: The family and community Violence and the neighborhood Adolescents and community Adolescents and family Family and community and understanding and intervening Conclusion M & M dialogue Coming of Age and Old Age in Family and Community Maturity: Love, work, connection, and closure Theories of the adult development of maturity Borysenko Levinson Contextual/constructionist view Generational differences Some important moments in adult life Leaving home Boomerang babies Love and work together Love and mating: the coming together of body, mind and culture Work Becoming a citizen: family and community Coming of (older) age in America Successful aging Dying and death Conclusion M & M dialogue Reprise, Vision and the Final Conversation Reprise Spirituality The ordinariness of everyday life Multiculturalism Technology The global village Organizations: Culture and behavior Context So what is the good life, anyway? The heroic and the common Some elements of a life worth living Conclusion The final M & M dialogue

Saleebey is telling an evocative story of how we "become human" through the lifecycle. -- Michael Hayes Clinical Social Work Journal