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'[A] thoroughgoing and thoroughly intelligent study ...All those tempted to join the new crusade against divorce should be required to read "Divorce: An American Tradition" cover to cover and pencil in hand. They may be forced to conclude, along with many of our ancestors, that divorce is indeed a great evil and source of much suffering. But then so is the institution that generates it - marriage, especially marriage under conditions of gross inequality between the sexes' - "New York Times Book Review".'No one has so carefully researched this subject before or written so intelligently about it' - "Chicago Tribune". 'Well researched and very readable ...[Riley] leaves her readers with suggestions for future divorce policy, calling for a more sensitive and humane approach in the practice of this centuries-old social and legal institution' - "American Historical Review".According to Glenda Riley, 'the historical conflict between anti-divorce and pro-divorce factions has prevented the development of effective, beneficial divorce laws, procedures, and policies.Today we still lack processes that move spouses out of unworkable marriages in a constructive fashion and get them back into the mainstream of life in a stable, productive condition'. Her pioneering historical overview offers proposals for dealing with a subject that now pertains to nearly half of all marriages. Professor of history at Ball State University, Glenda Riley is the author of "Inventing the American Woman: An Inclusive History".
