9780060931568

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How did marriage, considered a religious duty in medieval Europe, become a venue for personal fulfillment in contemporary America? How did the notion of romantic love, a novelty in the Middle Ages, become a prerequisite for marriage today? And, if the original purpose of marriage was procreation, what exactly is the purpose of marriage for women now?

Combining "a scholar's rigor and a storyteller's craft"(San Jose Mercury News), distinguished cultural historian Marilyn Yalom charts the evolution of marriage in the Judeo Christian world through the centuries and shows how radically our ideas about marriage have changed.

For any woman who is, has been, or ever will be married, this intellectually vigorous and gripping historical analysis of marriage sheds new light on an institution most people take for granted, and that may, in fact, be experiencing its most convulsive upheaval since the Reformation.

"[A] useful and refreshingly cheerful overview of women's changing roles in marriage and society."

Ellen Emry Heltzel, Kirkus, 12/15/2000

"[T]he book is brought alive by the collective voices of individual wives who bucked the system and set a new standard....A HISTORY OF THE WIFE deserves credit for collating what information is available about how women have spent, and felt about, their married lives."

Chicago Tribune Books, 02/25/2001

A History of the Wife: Search Results