Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage |
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Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage
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by Stephanie Coontz
Sales Rank: 267089
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$3.97
At Amazon
on 6-21-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 448 pages
Published by: Viking Adult May 23, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 067003407X
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0670034079
Book Dimensions:
9.2 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
Weighs: 1.4 pounds
Product Review
Politics, economics, greed, sex, cars-without them, matrimony wouldnt have caused the historical revolution ensuing today, concludes social historian Stephanie Coontz, in Marriage, a History. Modern marriage is in crisis; but dont pine for a return to "the good old days," when men earned money and women kept house. Dont even assume the crisis is all bad. For as Coontz reveals in this ambitious, multi-century trek through wedlock, marriage has morphed into the highest expression of commitment in Western Europe and North America; and though assumptions no longer exist regarding which partner may say "I do" to work, childcare, or other shared responsibilities, a clear set of rules about saying "I dont" (to infidelity and irresponsibility) rings loud as church bells.
"This is not the book I thought I was going to write," Coontz admits. She intended to show that marriage was not in crisis; merely changing in expected ways. But her exhaustive research suggested the opposite was true. Tracing matrimonys path from ancient times (when some cultures lacked a word for "love" and the majority of pairings were attempts to seize land or family names) through present day, she closely looks at the many external forces at play in shaping modern marriage. Coontz details how societys attempts to toughen this institution, have actually made it more fragile. Her rich talent for analyzing events, statistics, and theories from a myriad of sources-and enabling the reader to put them all in perspective-make this provocative history book an essential resource.--Liane Thomas
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When considered in the light of history, "traditional marriage"—the purportedly time-honored institution some argue is in crisis thanks to rising rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births, not to mention gay marriage—is not so traditional at all. Indeed, Coontz (The Way We Never Were) argues, marriage has always been in flux, and "almost every marital and sexual arrangement we have seen in recent years, however startling it may appear, has been tried somewhere before." Based on extensive research (hers and others'), Coontz's fascinating study places current concepts of marriage in broad historical context, revealing that there is much more to "I do" than meets the eye. In ancient Rome, no distinction was made between cohabitation and marriage; during the Middle Ages, marriage was regarded less as a bond of love than as a " 'career' decision"; in the Victorian era, the increasingly important idea of true love "undermined the gender hierarchy of the home" (in the past, men—rulers of the household—were encouraged to punish insufficiently obedient wives). Coontz explains marriage as a way of ensuring a domestic labor force, as a political tool and as a flexible reflection of changing social standards and desires. She presents her arguments clearly, offering an great balance between the scholarly and the readable in this timely, important book. Agent, Susan Rabiner. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reader Reviews
Once again Coontz (The way we never were, The way we really are) delves beyond simplistic pop culture/political sound bites to deliver an infinitely more complex portrait of American family life. This time she tackles marriage. Because marriage has traditionally been about possession of property (the woman and her family's ownings) today's pop culture promotion of marriage as a partnership of equals is VERY new. It is not at all traditional in the actual historical sense. People who are eager to restrict same sex marriage might want to reconsider after they learn what had previously been restricted throughout American history. Interracial, inter-religious, and the unions of people with disabilities were all once barred under 'protection' guises of their day. We endorse a very selective and unrealistic history of marriage whenever we avoid recognition of these histories. It is easy to support marriage restrictions until we have to concede that we might ourselves be discriminated by a genuinely 'traditional' institution. Today's attempts to ban same sex marriage only carry on the tradition of fear and division rather than affirming the institution itself. Coontz delves into disturbing histories, but this book is completely readable. Like her previous works, this book is accessible; the scholar, community activist, and general audiences all will find this title a very informative work. We cannot discuss the tradition of marriage without first actually conceding that this institution has previously changed and then what adherence to tradition really would mean for the country.
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Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage
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Price: $3.97
Updated on 6-21-2008.
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