Marriage, a History - Annotated by Stephanie Coontz (Paperback)

About the Book

In this surprising landmark book, family historian Coontz explodes every cherished assumption about marriage, starting with the notion of the traditional marriage.

Book Synopsis

Just when the clamor over "traditional" marriage couldn't get any louder, along comes this groundbreaking book to ask, "What tradition?" In Marriage, a History, historian and marriage expert Stephanie Coontz takes readers from the marital intrigues of ancient Babylon to the torments of Victorian lovers to demonstrate how recent the idea of marrying for love is--and how absurd it would have seemed to most of our ancestors. It was when marriage moved into the emotional sphere in the nineteenth century, she argues, that it suffered as an institution just as it began to thrive as a personal relationship. This enlightening and hugely entertaining book brings intelligence, perspective, and wit to today's marital debate.

Review Quotes

"Smart and provocative."
--Anna Quindlen, Newsweek

"Neatly, entertainingly, and convincingly deconstructs a number of our most cherished and least examined beliefs about the bonds that tie men and women together, for better and for worse."
--Judith Warner, author of Perfect Madness, in The Washington Post

"Informative, ambitious. Stephanie Coontz is persuasive. . . . willing to embrace contradictions. Nearly every page has some useful or provocative tidbit."
--Francine Prose, The New York Times Book Review

"As college professor and family historian Stephanie Coontz observes in her erudite, myth-shattering Marriage, a History, love and marriage have traditionally gone together like a horse and, well, a giant radioactive tangerine. . . . Coontz's endlessly fascinating history lends some much-needed perspective to present-day political caterwauling that marriage is in unprecedented period, and that America has lost sight of its core moral values."
--O, the Oprah Magazine

"This enlightening and highly detailed book bursts with interesting and often surprising facts. Coontz's book is an eye-opener, especially for those who believe love-based marriage has always been the norm."
--Rocky Mountain News

"Offers an updated investigation with myriad examples not easily found elsewhere. While Coontz focuses primarily on Euro-American civilization, she does so with an eye to other cultures, giving examples from Asia and Africa as well as the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest. These forays in to the non-Western world mute the criticism so often leveled at American historians of the family that we can't see beyond our own borders."
--Los Angeles Times

"Coontz's argument is fascinating and provocative. But her book is also great fun to read. . . . In a field so crowded with polemics, it is remarkably refreshing to watch Coontz lay out her evidence, summarize the scholarly debates in accessible language and then explain why she has chosen one interpretation over another. . . . This book raises the important debates about marriage in American to a higher level."
--Chicago Tribune

"In her exhaustively researched and well-footnoted Marriage, a History, Coontz has pulled together centuries of primary and secondary anthropological, sociological and historical information. But this isn't just a reference work. Filled with anecdotes about everyone from Cleopatra to Charlemagne to Henry VIII, plus all sorts of charming trivia--did you know that the 'kick' in Cole Porter's lyric came from cocaine, not champagne?--this is a reader-friendly and absorbing book."
--Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Bracing. Fascinating. Time and again she undermines cliches about married life to give a fuller picture of the instituition."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"The material is assembled with professional expertise and produces a convincing narrative. Building on the work of numerous other studies, Marriage, a History offers an updated investigation, with myriad examples not easily found elsewhere. . . . In providing the long view of history, Coontz gives us reason to believe that (couples) can and will accommodate such radical change."
--Los Angeles Times

"Forget 'Can this marriage be saved?' Can marriage be saved? Absolutely, writes Coontz in the much-buzzed-about Marriage, a History. While it's not quite an ideal shower gift, the ambitious book is optimistic about the future of marriage--as long as we stop idealizing the past."
--Chicago Sun-Times

"Coontz is at the top of her writing game here. She knows her stuff and communicates it in a steadily engrossing style. Revels in the fluid nature of her subject and distills an enormous amount of information into descriptions both portable and intriguing.
--Minneapolis Star Tribune

About the Author

Stephanie Coontz is the Director of Research and Public Education at the Council on Contemporary Families and teaches history and family studies at The Evergeen State College in Olympia, Washington. She divides her time between Makaha, Hawaii, and Washington. The author of the award-winning The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap, she writes about marriage and family issues in many national journals including The Washington Post, Harper's, Chicago Tribune, and Vogue. Her work has been translated into Japanese, German, French, and Spanish.

On the web: http: //www.stephaniecoontz.com