Marriage, a History

The book is, to my knowledge, the only one that fully covers the evolution of marriage in the West, including historical details and interesting biological and anthropological data; it changes the way we are indoctrinated to think by showing that sex, love, and marriage were for most of the time completely separate things, while we now try as much to force the three items to be always together.

The most surprising part for people who have not been familiar with the history of these topics is how recent and geographically localized it is the expectation that love, sex, and marriage… show more.

This book taught me a huge amount about the history of love and marriage. Who knew that, prior to the nineteenth century, the idea of marrying for love was so rare? With this historical insight in mind, it became clearer to me why marriages based on love, with their high expectations for life-long partnership, sexual compatibility, and emotional intimacy, are so challenging—and often end in divorce.

Stephanie Coontz makes these topics entertaining and accessible, from marriage in the ancient world, to 1950s-era nuclear families, to the challenges and opportunities that lovers, spouses, and families face in the twenty-first century.

Today, most people marry for love, or at least hope to marry for love. However, the idea of the love match as the preferred form of marriage is a relatively recent development. In Marriage a History, Stephanie Coontz tells the story of marriage’s transformation from an economic arrangement into an emotional one and covers everything from caveman unions to the modern fight for same-sex marriage. The book is filled with colorful examples and amusing anecdotes, such as the story of one aristocratic mother’s dismay when her son actually falls in love with his intended bride (she worries this will… show more.