I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage | Susan Squire | I Don't: A Contrarian View of Marriage

I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage | Susan Squire | "I Don't " Is A Must Read

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I Don't: A Contrar...

	I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage Susan Squire Bloomsbury USA, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A provocative survey of marriage and what it has meant for society, politics, religion, and the home.
For ten thousand years, marriage?and the idea of marriage?has been at the very foundation of human society. In this provocative and ambitious book, Susan Squire unravels the turbulent history and many implications of our most basic institution. Starting with the discovery, long before recorded time, that sex leads to paternity (and hence to couplehood), and leading up to the dawn of the modern ?love marriage,? Squire delves into the many ways men and women have come together and what the state of their unions has meant for history, society, and politics ? especially the politics of the home.
This book is the product of thirteen years of intense research, but even more than the intellectual scope, what sets it apart is Squire?s voice and contrarian boldness. Learned, acerbic, opinionated, and funny, she draws on everything from Sumerian mythology to Renaissance theater to Victorian housewives? manuals (sometimes all at the same time) to create a vivid, kaleidoscopic view of the many things marriage has been and meant. The result is a book to provoke and fascinate readers of all ideological stripes: feminists, traditionalists, conservatives, and progressives alike.

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I Don't: A Contrarian View of Marriage

A research product that is fascinating and memorable. The author does a sardonic job on the Old and New Testaments in examining the routes of males on top as a biblical command! Especially interesting is her cross-examination of the Genesis story with Adam, Eve, the Serpent and Him as
putative witnesses on the "stand". Her chapter on the virgin birth is uniquely well-documented. The story flows to Martin Luther and the religious re-acceptance of marriage without female authority. Looking forward to the sequel from Luther to modern times when relationships change dramatically at least in the Western world.

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"I Don't " Is A Must Read

Susan Squire's I Don't, A Contrarian History of Marriage is an intelligent and playful history of an institution we're all captivated by in one way or another but know little about. Her writing is funny and outrageous because it's true. Squire imparts the horrendous ways every western society--Greeks, Romans, Christians--treated women. But I Don't is hardly a diatribe against marriage or men. Squire is not out for vengeance. Instead, she tells the story of why and how society became organized into couples and families. And this honest investigation thereby helps to ease the pain of the impossible conundrum of marriage by putting the personal into a political and historical context. We're not alone, we don't live in a vacuum. I Don't is a powerful book.

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Great cover/great book=great gift

We all know marriage is hilarious. This book gives us even more to laugh about. It's a fantastic gift for all your single friends, or an anniversary gift for those who've already taken the plunge.

I Did. You Should.

A fantastic, original, and entertaining read. Considering all the horrifying events Squire covers, from plagues to witch burnings, it's amazing how many times she made me laugh. A fresh and provocative look at how western civilization and religion have shaped contemporary mating. I can't believe I got married without knowing all this.

a serious and fun book!

This book is for anyone who is divorced or has thought about divorce--or even for us single folk. It's smart, sophisticated, witty, and briskly written. It would seem destined for the best-seller list if the media (and book chains) weren't fixated on promoting the same books and the same ideas. (David Carr--hasn't that been done? Bob Woodward--jeez, again? Dexter Filkins--yeah, war is hell, thanks for the 100th book on Iraq. Dick Cheney? You mean we need a book to tell us he's Dr. Evil? ) Anyway, if you want an original take on a ubiquitous institution--divorce, and more specifically, how we got to where we are--this would be a good book for you. Or, dare I say, a good gift for someone you know and love, even a married friend, especially a married friend.

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