Category: Bad Dad Tales

Eleanor Roosevelt’s father Elliott, younger brother of President Theodore Roosevelt, inherited a fortune and squandered it on a rich and idle life. A heavy drinker, he was exiled to Virginia and rarely visited his daughter. She was jealous of the servant girl with whom he fathered a son. Elliott died of a seizure days after jumping out a window. The future First Lady never got over his loss but developed a compassion that benefitted the nation and the world. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

The Apostle Peter asks the Lord to palsy half of his daughter’s body so Ptolemaeus, a rich man, will no longer find her attractive. Grief-stricken and blinded, Ptolemaeus sees the light and comes to Jesus but Peter, the healer, leaves his daughter deformed. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

In Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Fagin is the leader and father figure to a gang of young thieves. He employs them to steal on his behalf but does nothing to improve their squalid lives. In the end, Oliver is saved by compassionate mother figures. For the story of another greedy bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Herod the Great, the ambitious King of Judea from 37 to 4 BCE, built monuments but tore down his family. He ordered the execution of the second of his ten wives, her mother and brother, and three of his nine sons. Read about another ambitious bad dad in The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Donald Trump’s father, Fred, was a New York City real estate developer who was twice investigated for profiteering, sued by the U.S. Justice Department for racial discrimination, and charged with tax evasion and illicit campaign contributions. Accordingly to his daughter, Fred trained Donald to be a “killer” and told him, “You are a king!” Aren’t dads supposed to boost their kids’ self-esteem? For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

After slicing off his son’s hand, Darth Vader in Stars Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back reveals that he’s Luke Skywalker’s father and invites his son to join him on the dark side. For the story of another bad dad with unreasonable expectations, read The Great Stork Derby. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Patriarch Royal in The Royal Tennenbaums, 22 years after leaving their mother, forces himself back into his children’s lives by faking a terminal illness. Pushy and insensitive, he tries to make amends with the former prodigies, now failed adults. For the story of another bad dad who tries to make amends, read The Great Stork Derby. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Barak Obama, Sr., the President’s father, was a Kenyan economist who married an American anthropologist, with whom he had a son. She divorced him three years later. The boy didn’t see his father again until he was ten, and never again after that. All told, Obama, Sr. had four wives and eight children, all raised by their mothers. He died in a car crash months after his last child was born. History’s verdict: “He led a reckless and troubled life.” For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.

Michael Corleone in The Godfather reluctantly takes over from his father Vito to help his family. He lies to his wife and hides the truth from his kids. His ruthlessness comes back to haunt him, however, when “the family business” — The Mafia — results in his daughter’s death. For the story of another bad dad, read The Great Stork Derby, based on an actual contest in which a husband pressures his wife to have babies for cash and, fifty years later, learns the true value of fatherhood. Read more about the book in NOVELS.