Subversive Family - Softcover

Mount, Ferdinand

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684863855 ISBN 13: 9780684863856

Publisher: Free Press, 1998

Synopsis

British politician and writer, Ferdinand Mount, challenges contemporary beliefs about society and family—including the history of divorce, childcare, and the concept of the nuclear family.

In Subversive Family, politician and writer Ferdinand Mount argues that society is shaped by a series of powerful revolutionary movements, the leaders of which, whether they be political ideologues, theologians, feudal lords, or feminist writers, have done their utmost to render the family a subordinate instrument of their purpose but that, in spite of it all, the family endures. Mount maintains that many widely held contemporary beliefs about the family are based on a willful misreading of the evidence: among the myths are that arranged marriages were the norm until this century; that child care is a modern innovation; that in earlier societies children were treated as expendable objects; that the nuclear family is not a 20th-century invention; and that romantic love never existed before the troubador poets glorified adultery. Divorce, he contends, is no great novelty either, he shows that in many times and places it has been almost as easy to obtain as it is today. Far from diminishing the general desire and respect for family life, Mount contends that the provision for divorce has been popularly regarded as an integral part of any sensible system of family law. This study should jolt the reader into a re-assessment of one of the most familiar and ancient institutions, and encourage greater consideration for policies today that support the family.

About this title

About the Author

Ferdinand Mount was born in 1939. For many years he was a columnist at the Spectator and then the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times. In between, he was head of the Downing Street Policy Unit and then editor of the Times Literary Supplement. He is now a prize-winning novelist, author of the bestselling memoir Cold Cream, the controversial The New Few and the bestselling The Tears of the Rajas. He lives in London.

From Library Journal

At a time when "family values" are on everyone's mind comes the first U.S. edition of this fascinating social history of marriage by an editor for the Times Literary Supplement . Originally published in England in 1982, this work is no less provocative today: It argues that the family as we know it--nuclear, two-generational, and bound by affection and commitment--has existed and, indeed, triumphed throughout recorded history despite attempts by church and state to discredit and control it. Many widely held notions are refuted, including the belief that romantic love is a relatively modern concept, that arranged marriages were the norm until the 20th century, and that parents in earlier societies were indifferent to their children. Mount's contentions are supported by a convincing array of histor ical source material and contemporary scholarship. Essential for all academic and large public libraries.
- Linda Cul lum, Lake Superior State Univ. Lib., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0684863855
• ISBN 13: 9780684863856
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296