Selected Product:
| What is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution
Paperback
Edition: 1
Author: E. J. Graff
Publisher: Beacon Press
Release Date: 2004-03-18
ISBN-10: 0807041351
ISBN-13: 9780807041352
List Price: $18.00
Average Customer Rating:
  | |
Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry
ISBN-10: 0743264592
ISBN-13: 9780743264594
List Price:$13.00
A History of the Wife
ISBN-10: 0060931566
ISBN-13: 9780060931568
List Price:$14.95
Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage
ISBN-10: 014303667X
ISBN-13: 9780143036678
List Price:$16.00
Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation
ISBN-10: 0674008758
ISBN-13: 9780674008755
List Price:$19.50
|
To use our price comparison to get the cheapest price, please click on the "Find the Cheapest Price" button located above for What is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution by E. J. Graff (ISBN-10: 0807041351, ISBN-13: 9780807041352).
At this time we have not yet written a review for What is Marriage For?: The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution by E. J. Graff (ISBN-10: 0807041351, ISBN-13: 9780807041352). Please continue to keep checking back to this page as we are constantly adding reviews.
Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Will same-sex couples destroy "traditional" marriage, soon to be followed by the collapse of all civilization? That charge has been leveled throughout history whenever the marriage rules change. But marriage, as E. J. Graff shows in this lively, fascinating tour through the history of marriage in the West, has always been a social battleground, its rules constantly shifting to fit each era and economy. The marriage debates have been especially tumultuous for the past hundred and fifty years—in ways that lead directly to today's debate over whether marriage could mean not just Boy + Girl = Babies, but also Girl + Girl = Love.
Missed the basics
| Customer Rating: | | While E. J. Graff gives a broad social history of marriage, she does not delve deeply enough into the religious history of marriage which leads to errors in her arguments. From her book, one could conclude that the Catholic Church did not consider marriage to be a sacrament until the 13th century. However, Terullian in the 2nd century wrote, "Whence are we to find (words) enough fully to tell the happiness of that marriage which the Church cements, and the oblation confirms, and the benediction signs and seals; (which) angels carry back the news of (to heaven), (which) the Father holds for ratified." Lacking this foundation of the essence of marriage in the Christian Church which so heavily influenced our society, she cannot argue for what marriage is for because she does not know what marriage really is. |
Interesting Book that Opened My Eyes
| Customer Rating: | | A very interesting book about the history of marriage and what this history suggests for the arguments surrounding gay marriage. It really opened my eyes up that what some call "traditional" marriage is hardly traditional at all in the context of human history where "marriage" took a variety of forms. |
Well done and extremely informative
| Customer Rating: | The historical overview Graff provides covers not only the institution of marriage itself, but also the wide spectrum of gender roles that have been standard in past Western culture. (For example, the idea that the wife should stay at home didn't occur to anyone until Victorian times brought along industry and 14-hour factory jobs!)
The author writes a fine history, quoting original sources and backing up her information, in a tone conversational and interesting enough for even a reader like myself, usually terrible at reading history books, to follow and enjoy.
Her overview of polygamy is the only thing in this book that fails. The overview is brief, and the only examples given are the Mormons and the Oneida commune. I might opine that she neglected this area on purpose. Part of this book's thrust (perhaps ten percent of the text is focused on it) is providing factual support for the idea that marriage between two people of any gender is simply the next natural consequence of the changes in our society and economy. The critics of this idea often use the negative media image of polygamy to their credit.
I'm guessing that she glanced over it in order to keep this argument at bay -- which is a pity, because the book could have been stronger with an actual refutation, citing historical and modern examples of polygamy in their societal context. But at least she is careful enough with her language that she does not tar all multi-person couples with the same brush.
Aside from this qualm, I'm quite satisfied with the text as a whole, and would recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of marriage and gender roles throughout the ages in their economic and social context. |
A Disappointing Tract for Same-sex Marriage
| Customer Rating: | What I expected was a well researched history of marriage laden with colorful commentary, humorous ironies, and insightful analysis. What I discovered is a heavy-handed argument for gay and lesbian marriage that is tedious to slog through.
The author makes much of the fact that a)marriage has always been a strictly controlled institution that generally has financial implications; and b)that the institution has undergone constant, radical change. Somehow, this is supposed to support the thesis that states should revise their laws to include same-sex marriage. Somehow, I missed the logic.
On one hand, since marriage has always been strictly controlled by the state, where's the injustice in the fact that it is still strictly controlled by states who allow only heterosexuals to marry? And on the other hand, while marriage has survived constant change through the ages, one thing has never changed: it has always been a heterosexual institution.
My bottom line: flawed logic expressed in a pedestrian writing style makes for very dull reading. |
|
