Introduction
pt. 1: In search of traditional marriage. The radical idea of marrying for love
The many meanings of marriage
The invention of marriage
pt. 2: The era of political marriage. Soap operas of the ancient world
Something borrowed : the marital legacy of the classical world and early Christianity
Playing the bishop, capturing the queen : aristocratic marriages in early medieval Europe
How the other 95 percent wed : marriage among the common folk of the Middle Ages
Something old, something new : Western European marriage at the dawn of the modern age
pt. 3: The love revolution. From yoke mates to soul mates : emergence of the love match and the male provider marriage
"Two birds within one nest" : sentimental marriage in nineteenth-century Europe and North America
"A heaving volcano" : beneath the surface of Victorian marriage
"The time when mountains move has come" : from sentimental to sexual marriage
Making do, then making babies : marriage in the Great Depression and World War II
The era of Ozzie and Harriet : the long decade of "traditional" marriage
pt. 4: Courting disaster? : the collapse of universal and lifelong marriage. Winds of change : marriage in the 1960s and 1970s
The perfect storm : the transformation of marriage at the end of the twentieth century
Uncharted territory : how the transformation of marriage is changing our lives
Conclusion : For better or worse? : the future of marriage.