Synopses & Reviews
Praise for Elizabeth Abbot:
"A History of Marriage amuses and entertains readers. . . .Sure to provoke and surprise."The Globe and Mail
"Ambitious and wide-ranging."The New Yorker
"A juicy, brilliantly insightful surveyas readable as it is intellectually sophisticated, alternately witty and moving."The Village Voice
What does the tradition of marriage really look like? With A History of Marriage, Elizabeth Abbott paints an often surprising picture of this most public, yet most intimate, institution. A union between a man and a woman, or between varying genders? A legal prerequisite to childrearing, or an after-the-fact common law arrangement? Abbott reveals a complex tradition that includes same-sex unions, arranged marriages, impromptu self-marriages, and child brides.
The wedding ceremony too has worn many faces: spousals,” common before the mid-twelfth century in western Europe, required no priest, but only the privately proclaimed consent of the couple; the iconic white wedding dress did not emerge until the late eighteenth century after Queen Victoria’s lavish 1840 gown; and the elegant wedding day of Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres at their Los Angeles home in 2008 perhaps hints at wedding days to come.
The unexpected past of traditional marriagein all its loving, unloving, decadent, impoverished, conventional, and unconventional manifestationsfrom mail-order brides, and polyandry to infidelity and divorceis revealed here through Abbott’s famously infectious curiosity.
Elizabeth Abbott is an award-winning and best-selling author and historian with a special interest in women's issues and the environment. She has a doctorate from McGill University in nineteenth century history. Her other books include A History of Celibacy and A History of Mistresses. She lives in Toronto.
Synopsis
The way we (really) were.
Synopsis
What does the "tradition of marriage" really look like? In A History of Marriage, Elizabeth Abbott paints an often surprising picture of this most public, yet most intimate, institution. Ritual of romance, or social obligation? Eternal bliss, or cult of domesticity? Abbott reveals a complex tradition that includes same-sex unions, arranged marriages, dowries, self-marriages, and child brides. Marriage—in all its loving, unloving, decadent, and impoverished manifestations—is revealed here through Abbott's infectious curiosity.
About the Author
ELIZABETH ABBOTT is a writer, lecturer and historian with a special interest in women's issues, social justice, the treatment of animals, and the environment. She has a doctorate from McGill University in 19th century history. Her most recent book, A History of Marriage, completes her trilogy about human relationships following A History of Celibacy and A History of Mistresses. A History of Marriage was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction. Her previous book, Sugar: A Bittersweet History, inspired by her Antiguan heritage, was short-listed for the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Born in Montreal, she has lived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and now resides in Toronto. She is a grandmother and owns three dogs.