Divorce by Glenda Riley
Nearly 50 per cent of all American marriages today end in divorce, yet few people realise that the contemporary divorce rate is the culmination of a long-term historical trend initiated by the Puritan settlers shortly after arrival in the American colonies. This study argues that one of the reasons for the rising divorce rate in America is the American propensity for rejecting an unpleasant situation in the hope of finding more appealing circumstances elsewhere - hence the movement westward, to cite one example. The book begins with the Puritan idea of marriage as a civil affair, thus more easily terminated than marriage within the Church. The colonial period covers a number of major themes, dealing with English law and divorce practices. A chapter is devoted to divorce in the American West, where more liberal divorce rules applied, and another to the unsuccessful attempt to create uniform national divorce laws in the early 20th century. There is discussion of Reno as a "divorce mill" for the wealthy and of the growing societal pressures which raised the divorce rate. The post-1945 chapter deals with more of these increasing pressures, including the women's movement, that have accelerated the divorce rate. The book also discusses the tie between divorce and American attitudes and concludes that divorce is an American tradition of long standing that is unlikely to alter drastically in the near future.Alexander M. Riley is Glenda Riley. Professor Emeritus of History at Ball State University. She previously worked at the University of Northern Iowa as a history professor and the director of the Women's Studies Program. In addition to four editions of Inventing the American Woman, Professor Riley has written The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley (1994), A Space to Grow: Women in the American West (1992), Divorce: An American Tradition (1991), and The Female Frontier: A Comparative Study (1991). Professor Riley is now a member of the Lincoln County Historical Society and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Posse, and resides on a horseranch in historic Lincoln County, New Mexico.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780195061239 |
| ISBN 10 | 0195061233 |
| Title | Divorce |
| Author | Glenda Riley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Year published | 1991-06-13 |
| Number of pages | 275 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |