[DEZ]≫ [PDF] What Is Marriage For? E J Graff 9780807041147 Books

What Is Marriage For? E J Graff 9780807041147 Books

Download As PDF : What Is Marriage For? E J Graff 9780807041147 Books

What Is Marriage For? E J Graff 9780807041147 Books

I would not recommend this book. The content should have been distilled into fewer pages and the topic kept drifting needlessly back toward gay marriage so much so that I think it was unfair to the reader to not mention gay marriage in the title or subtitle of the book. I most enjoyed the parts talking about the history of marriage in Rome, German tribes, etc.


Tags : What Is Marriage For? [E. J. Graff] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Documents the many forms marriage has taken, while arguing forcefully for the legalization of same-sex marriage and shedding new light on such ongoing battles as equality between wives and husbands and the always-contentious definition of family,E. J. Graff,What Is Marriage For?,Beacon Pr,0807041149,Sociology - Marriage & Family,Marriage.,Same-sex marriage.,GENERAL,HOMOSEXUALITY,History,MARRIAGE,Men's Studies,Non-Fiction,SOCIAL SCIENCE Sociology Marriage & Family,Same-sex marriage,ScholarlyUndergraduate,Social Science,Sociology,United States

What Is Marriage For? E J Graff 9780807041147 Books Reviews

Never read the book, as I gave it as a gift to someone. Skimmed through it and it looked good though.
I picked up this book for the history-of-marriage value instead of the same-sex-marriage-propaganda value, and found the history and debated "reasons why people have historically married" to be rather uninformative. A lot of what was said seemed common knowledge about basic history of society. Marriage concepts are talked about generally more often than not. I would have liked to see more hard core facts rather than musings and contemplations. I was hoping for statistics to be sprinkled liberally, and perhaps many tales of certain marriages in the past that stood out either as especially abnormal for a time period, or exceedingly typical.
No nonsense guide to the history of marriage. Has some amusing analogies that make you think about this ever evolving tradition.
Excellent historical overview/recap of why the institution originated and mutated over time. Questions discriminatory practice of excluding homosexual unions brilliantly.
A wonderful book full of thought-provoking history. I learned a lot and this started numerous conversations with friends and family.
Good overview of marriage through the the years with each section examining a particular aspect of the institution. The author is a lesbian and expresses things thru the prism of her own relationship (since then, perhaps she got married, given this was before any state recognized a SSM), but this does not dominate in any fashion.
I thought this was a very entertaining look at the history of marriage and how it has changed through the years. It is full of interesting stories that really open your eyes about how much things have changed throughout the centuries. It is very informative, but still a quick read.

The only thing that I didn't like about the book is that some of the facts that she brings up are not cited, and also, I think there are some factual errors here and there throughout the book. For example, she talks about how married couples would have been growing the same potatoes in the same fields as their parents for thousands of years...but potatoes aren't native to Europe, they were imported from America. Also, it seemed like she dismissed peasant marriages as not important, and yet I think of contemporary artwork (such as Pieter Brughel's painting of the peasant wedding feast) that seems to contradict this.

However, despite these minor flaws, it is still probably one of the best books I have ever read on the subject, and so I still give it 5 stars.
I would not recommend this book. The content should have been distilled into fewer pages and the topic kept drifting needlessly back toward gay marriage so much so that I think it was unfair to the reader to not mention gay marriage in the title or subtitle of the book. I most enjoyed the parts talking about the history of marriage in Rome, German tribes, etc.