The Marriage-Go-Round

by Andrew J. Cherlin

Publisher's Description: From one of the nation's leading experts on the American family, a book that explores the state of marriage in America today; its evolution culturally; and with regard to religion and the law, how and why the present state of marriage-a merry-go-round of partnerships-developed, and the implications for parents and children. During Andrew J. Cherlin's three decades of study and analysis of family life, he came to see that marriage in the United States was different than in other Western countries-Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand-in a way that no one was writing about. He realized that marriage in America, unlike in other countries in the world, was seen as a cultural ideal, and the U.S. government was spending money to promote its continuation. The institution of marriage had become a social and political battlefield. Cherlin writes that Americans marry more repeatedly and have more live-in partners; that marriage and remarriage, frequent divor