Kay's Reviews > Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation

The writing is a little dry and the chapters are hard going as they're quite long. I felt like the author frequently digressed into territory that was only tangentially related to her primary subject. I learned a lot about immigration policy and slavery, but felt like she spent too much time on what was (admittedly very important but ultimately only) background information. Cott, like Barbara Ehrenreich, has a problem with class; Cott frequently implies that women didn't work before the 30s.

Alternate title: Marriage and a Bunch of Other Stuff That Sucked for Women and People of Color.