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Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy or How Love Conquered Marriage. Stephanie Coontz. New York: Viking. 2005. 432 pp. ISBN 0-670-03407-X. $25.95 (hardback).
What was the institution of marriage historically? What changes has it undergone? Where is it headed? In her book Marriage, a History, Stephanie Coontz examines the motivations for marriage historically, across cultures and class, and concludes that social, economic, and political forces were the motivating forces in marriage up until the late 1700s in Western Europe. Here lies the origin of the "love match" wherein men and women freely choose marital partners as a private relationship between two individuals. As marriage moves on through the 1800s and up to our current era, Coontz tracks the frequent changes in marriage based on love, as it battles with many socioeconomic forces and political upheavals. This book is a fantastic look at the history of marriage and challenges the reader to examine marriage not in the context of a static institution but with origins in...