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northship's review against another edition
3.0
like man, idk, this is the kind of problem i have with a lot of pop history. it reads well in parts. it drags in parts. but it’s the authorial voice intruding all of the time in such a chatty way that i really can’t stand. sometimes it works, if you’re a mary roach or a melissa mohr, but mostly you’re a todd mcleish or a robert sullivan, or in this case, an elizabeth abbott.
it was obviously well-researched so the parts where she chose just not to put a footnote or a cite stuck out especially and again got in the way of just reading it. but this may be slightly nitpicky. overall i think it’s a quite decent breakdown of the general history of marriage, the way social mores at various points in history shaped the way marriage was conceived and conducted, and general trends marriage has been taking recently.
i can’t say i’d recommend you go out of your way to read this one but if you’re interested in the topic you could do worse.
it was obviously well-researched so the parts where she chose just not to put a footnote or a cite stuck out especially and again got in the way of just reading it. but this may be slightly nitpicky. overall i think it’s a quite decent breakdown of the general history of marriage, the way social mores at various points in history shaped the way marriage was conceived and conducted, and general trends marriage has been taking recently.
i can’t say i’d recommend you go out of your way to read this one but if you’re interested in the topic you could do worse.
emmatarswell's review against another edition
3.0
The historical information found in this book was very well presented but Part 2 dealt primarily with present issues facing marriage and it was much less interesting. If you are looking for a book on history; only read Part 1. If you are interested in the state of marriage today; this book is probably an excellent choice.
jwhyteappleby's review
4.0
I enjoyed the first half (a European and N American history) much more than the second (an analysis of modern marriage, gay marriage, step families, divorce, etc.). Appreciated her taking a good amount of space to discuss slave marriages and the effect of residential schooling on Aboriginal marriages and family ties.
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