Joshua M. Gold, PhD, is a professor in the Counselor Education Program at the University of South Carolina. He completed his doctoral study at Kent State University in 1991 and then served on the faculty of Fairfi eld University for four years before joining the faculty at the University of South Carolina in 1995. He is a member of International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors and a contributing editorial board member of The Family Journal. This book marks a refl ective milepost for him in a career that began in clinical work with stepfamilies, which was the focus of his dissertation research and then remained a research thread during his tenure as a professor.