Abbott - A History of Marriage

Advance praise forA History of Marriage

Can we really understand celibacy or mistresses without considering marriage, the socio-sexual bond that convention tells us is the heart of love? Elizabeth Abbotts new volume of accessible social history completes a sparkling trilogy about human intimacy. Her writing is as witty and informative as ever, her tone as wry and wise, and the value to understanding ourselves as profound. No thoughtful personmarried, celibate, unfaithful or otherwiseshould be without this book. Mark Kingwell, author of Concrete Reveries and Extraordinary Canadians: Glenn Gould

Whether you consider marriage a prison or a paradise, an outmoded institution or the culmination of all your white lacy dreams, Elizabeth Abbotts probing history deftly shows how this always fragile, yet always resilient institution has evolved. Its not always a pretty picture, but its a fascinating one. Judith Timson, author of Family Matters

I love this book. Elizabeth Abbott is an engaging story-teller. She wisely recognizes that we can only understand the changing meanings of marriage if we also appreciate that what it means to live single has changed dramatically, too. Bella DePaulo, author of Singled Out

Elizabeth Abbott has penned a masterpiece A History of Marriage is a wide-ranging account of how the social intersects with many forms of the personal. An outstanding work that deserves as many readers as can be found. Ahmad Saidullah, author of Happiness and Other Disorders

With her genius for the apt example and her characteristic wit and warmth, Elizabeth Abbott expertly illuminates the lived experience of marriage past and present, discovering, in the process, some surprising parallels between the way we were and the way we are today, and offering suggestions to help bolster tomorrows unions. Wide-ranging yet cohesive, sharply observed yet hopeful, A History of Marriage, like the institution it animates, rewards commitment. Susan Olding, author of Pathologies: A Life in Essays

Fascinating and utterly engrossing, Elizabeth Abbotts book is crammed full of delicious morsels of information about nuptials past and present. What we take for granted as the immutable, eternal rituals of romance and marriage arent that at all. You should see how they did it in the past. Romance? Forget it. Maureen Jennings, author of the Detective Murdoch series

Like any marriage, this book is full of surprises. Elizabeth Abbotts take on the ties that bind so many of us is lively and intelligent. A must-read. Catherine Dunphy, author of Morgentaler: A Difficult Hero

Praise for Elizabeth Abbotts other books

Ambitious Her research is detailed and thorough. She is gifted at relating not just the triumphs and tragedies of those who lived centuries ago but also in giving a sense of their daily lives. She makes us hungry to know more about them. The Columbus Dispatch

Elizabeth Abbott mixes anthropology with history in her confection of insights The pages of Abbotts lucid, exciting book throb with both life and its denial It is a strength of her moving and dazzling achievement that Abbott is never conventional, preachy or platitudinous. Like all good history, her book is a signpost to the strangeness of a world that has such deviance in it. The Guardian

Entertaining, fascinating, and frequently disturbing. The Gazette (Montreal)

Ambitious and wide-ranging. The New Yorker

A rich, dramatic, fascinating history. The Globe and Mail

Here is history with a human face, effective, moving, written with surprising and admirable restraint. Kirkus Reviews (starred)

This book is powerfully composed with a dense rush of events and documentation, the passion of personal feeling, an outrage expressed in bitter irony. Los Angeles Times

Splendid, passionate Elizabeth Abbott portrays a depth of misery and exploitation which, it might be said without disrespect to Graham Greene, he was only able to hint at. Newsday

Manag[es] to be both academic and entertaining. Evening Standard

Abbott presents a fascinating panoply of characters [her] extensive research is impressive. Edmonton Journal

A juicy, brilliantly insightful surveyas readable as it is intellectually sophisticated, alternately witty and moving. Village Voice Literary Supplement

Once you begin this astonishing book, you are not likely to put it down She is an extraordinarily brave woman with the talent to match her bravery. Eugene D. Genovese, author of Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made

Copyright 2010 by Elizabeth Abbott

Originally published in Canada by Penguin Group (Canada), 2010

First US edition April 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

eISBN: 978-1-60980-085-7

v3.1

To the memory of my father, Bill Abbott, who never doubted that he had hit the jackpot when he married Marnie Griggs, my mother.

And to my beloved son and daughter-in-law, Ivan and Dina, for the joy of sharing your lives and for making me a grandmother.

During my thirteen years as Dean of Women at the University of Torontos Trinity College, I wrote A History of Celibacy and A History of Mistresses. In 2004, I left my deanship to become a full-time writer. I detoured in subject matter, and Sugar: A Bittersweet History appeared in 2008. I resumed my narrative trajectory and, with A History of Marriage, have completed my historical relationship trilogy. Dreams can come true, and I am most grateful to everyone who helped me realize them.

Andrea Magyar, editorial director of Penguin Canada, reined me in and gave Marriage its North American orientation, for which I thank her. I thank her as well for putting me into the editorial hands of Helen Smith, whose energy and enthusiasm are contagious. And the droll animal images she implants in emails always make me laugh, assuaging the stress of editorial demands and deadlines.

For twenty-three years my agent, Heide Lange, has supported my writing goals and sold my books worldwide. I treasure our collaboration and am proud to be one of her authors.

I loved the rigour and excellence of copy editor Shaun Oakeys work on