By turns adoring, alienating, challenging, and cherished, the relationship between a father and daughter is always a complex and compelling one. In Fathers and Daughters, photographer Mariana Cook explores this eternal relationship as never before - through a stunning collection of photographs and deeply moving texts written by the fathers and daughters themselves.Representing many cultures and social groups, perspectives and experiences, over fifty fathers and daughters reveal in their writings, and in Mariana Cook's exceptional photographs, the unique yet universal connection between fathers and daughters - an inexorable bond, from the very first hospital cry of "It's a girl," through the anguish of adolescent rebellion, to the final, mature friendship forged by time and travail. Among them, there are fathers who dote on their darling daughters, fathers who are trying to bridge the gap that seems to stand between them and their teenage daughters, and fathers of grown women who have become allies, friends, confidants. There are very young daughters who adore their daddies, daughters whose fathers seem distant, daughters separated from their fathers by divorce, and daughters whose views and ambitions are so different from those of their fathers that their honest and ultimately loving devotion is even more touching.Sometimes plainspoken, sometimes poetic, and always emerging directly from the heart, their words remind us that no matter how it is expressed, there is always a surfeit of love; what is left unsaid is illuminated in the intimacy and poignancy of Mariana Cook's exquisite portraits. With an introduction by William Styron, and an afterword by the photographer, Fathers and Daughters is much more than a glimpse into the lives of a few individuals, it is a powerful documentary and an inspirational tribute to fathers and daughters everywhere. Read Less