Mythbusting and History Books
 An extremely well-researched work on the origins of marriage, written by a lesbian journalist seeking to understand the "reasons" for excluding her lifepartner and herself from the institution of marriage. Extremely valuable in understanding how and why heterosexual, lifelong, sexually exclusive marriage came to be recognized as the "one true legitimate form" of intimate relationship (and who really benefited).  When Dan Quayle chastised the sitcom Murphy Brown for flouting traditional family values by having its lead give birth out of wedlock, he had a point: television had moved beyond the Nelsons to the new world of the Simpsons. That shift, along with other harbingers of social change, allowed both Democrats and Republicans to deploy apocalyptic visions of family decline and social disorder. (A factoid: premarital pregnancy rates have never fallen below 10 percent throughout our history.) In this lively reading of American social history, Gillis shows us that the good old days were never really all that good and that while family values are not in danger, it won't keep many of us from yearning for a fabulous golden age when kids minded their elders and all was right with the world.  Yale University professor Nancy F. Cott offers up a meticulously researched overview of the history of the institution of marriage in the United States. More importantly, she does not shy away from revealing the use of this institution in the service of the dominant culture's beliefs, assumptions, prejudices, and policies. She documents how the Christian concept of marriage came to dominate the nominally secular United States of America; how it was ruthlessly enforced upon all dissenters, freed slaves, Native Americans, and immigrants; and how it was and still is denied to those deemed "unworthy." Cott lays bare the governmental interests that underpin the moralisms cited in defense of monogamy - the minimization of the welfare rolls, subjugation of women to male heads of households, xenophobic fear of "savage" and "barbaric" foreigners and dissenters, etc. Must reading for anyone who wants to see beyond the surface veneer of monogamy as a benign social institution of enduring character into the ways in which it has been used and shaped in comparatively recent times as an instrument of public policy, state control, and social engineering by those whose worldview generally has been surprisingly hostile to the pluralism that is the nominal basis for the "American Dream." |
 Sociologist Stephanie Coontz does a remarkable job of documenting the truth about the history of family life in America over the decades. A must read book for anyone who wants to understand how the pervasive mythology of family life has made more difficult the choices confronting families and policymakers alike today.  In the followup to her earlier retrospective work, Dr. Stephanie Coontz lays out the realities of family life in contemporary America and sets forth an activist agenda to address the challenges faced by contemporary families of all configurations.
 The first full length study of the history of sexuality in America, Intimate Matters offers trenchant insights into the sexual behavior of Americans, from colonial times to today. D'Emilio and Freedman give us a deeper understanding of how sexuality has dramatically influenced politics and culture throughout our history. |