You'll Do
A History of Marrying for Reasons other than Love
Marcia A. Zug’s detailed social history You’ll Do covers the evolution of marriage via its economic and cultural motivators.
Though the book examines other non-romantic motivations for love, such as colonists marrying Indigenous women to gain access to tribal lands, its primary focus is on marriage as a means of financial security. For women in particular, it notes, money remains a big reason for entering into a marital contract.
Referencing literature, legal rulings, and documented anecdotes, the book explores how attitudes toward marriage have both evolved and persisted throughout history. In the opening chapter, for example, the book references how Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice demonstrated diverging opinions of marriage as seen through the characters of Charlotte and Lizzie. The book delves further into the idea of women marrying for money rather than love with an in-depth analysis of coverture, a seventeenth-century English law adopted by the American colonies that made a husband and wife one person under the laws of marriage and ensured that a wife had no legal claim over her husband’s money or property; in turn, she lost control over her own fortune.
Demonstrating how historical motives for marriage persist, the book revisits the marrying-for-money motive later in the book. It cites Melania Trump as one of the more famous examples of a modern “gold digger.” But it also argues that—with the exception of forced marriages featuring child brides and other abusive situations—non-romantic unions should be respected and understood in the context of the social, cultural, and economic environments that continue to make them necessary.
You’ll Do is a fascinating and thorough historical review of the institution of marriage.
Reviewed by
Gail Hoffer-Loibl
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
