Divorce

In Divorce, Glenda Riley provides a history of marital breakdown in America, from colonial times to the present, revealing how America has become the divorce capital of the world. Riley describes how the Puritans broke radically with British tradition, treating marriage as a civil matter, and granted civil divorce almost two centuries before England. She traces the gradual easing of divorce laws; highlights the great disparity of laws from state to state; and examines the impact of...
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In Divorce, Glenda Riley provides a history of marital breakdown in America, from colonial times to the present, revealing how America has become the divorce capital of the world. Riley describes how the Puritans broke radically with British tradition, treating marriage as a civil matter, and granted civil divorce almost two centuries before England. She traces the gradual easing of divorce laws; highlights the great disparity of laws from state to state; and examines the impact of westward migration and the growing importance of love. Riley brings her narrative up to the 1990s, when marriages end at an astonishing rate, and single parent and blended families have become common. Throughout, the reader is treated to quite a bit of colorful history: the "divorce mills" that appeared in Indianapolis, Sioux Falls, Fargo, and, of course, Reno; the various alternatives to traditional marriage (such as the celibacy of the Shakers, or the group marriage of the Oneida community); and many fascinating divorce cases, from the obscure to the infamous (such as the trial of Brigham Young, who when sued by one of his wives for a $200,000 settlement, quickly countersued, claiming the marriage was polygamous and thus illegal in the United States; he won the case).
Divorce has become an American tradition, Riley concludes, and it will continue to be so, laws or religious prohibitions to the contrary. She argues that if we stop fighting over whether divorce is good or bad, and simply recognize that divorce is, we might work out a more equitable and helpful system of divorce for Americans.