One Marriage Under God

Melanie Heath is Associate Professor of Sociology at McMaster University. She is author of One Marriage under God: The Campaign to Promote Marriage in America (New York University Press, 2012) and coauthor of The How To of Qualitative Research (with Janice Aurini and Stephanie Howells, Sage, 2016).

"Melanie Heath's brilliant ethnography raises crucial questions about our obsession with marriage and, in the process, tells us a great deal about belonging and inequality in America." - Arlene Stein,author of Shameless: Sexual Dissidence in American Culture "Nuanced, incisive. . .a compelling piece of scholarship, and a provocative contribution to the public debate about the nature and purpose of marriage." - Elizabeth Long,author of Book Clubs: Women and the Uses of Reading in Everyday Life "Heaths exemplary scholarship raises critical heterosexual studies to new heights by uncovering the interests and contradictions that underpin the struggle for marriage equality in the U.S." - Chrys Ingraham,author of White Weddings: Romancing Heterosexuality in Popular Culture "Heath's brilliant ethnography will contribute much to our understanding of marriage and marriage promotion in the United States...her work forces us as scholars to be more critical of how these programs are working and compels us to try harder to develop new ways forward." (Sex Roles) "Heaths work is ambitious, addressing multiple populations and connecting several large themes, including religion, gender, sexuality, race, and poverty, into a coherent argument about marriage promotion. [] [T]he breadth of Heaths research is remarkable and her insights about marriage promotion astounding." (Social Forces) "Heath convincingly demonstrates how marriage intensifies racial, cultural, and economic inequality and cultivates a form of individualism that promotes market fundamentalism with religious zeal." (Sociology of Religion) "One Marriage Under God [is] an illuminating ethnographic study." (Women's Review of Books) "Recommended [for] graduate students/faculty." (CHOICE) "Not only is this book engaging as sociology, it is authoritative on the specifics." (American Journal of Sociology)

• Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: Marriage Promotion, Heterosexuality and "Being American" 1 Unite! Marriage and American Identity 2 The Stakes of Gender and Heterosexuality 3 Widening the Marriage Gap 4 Teaching Marriage to Single Mothers and Inmates 5 Marriage Recitals in High School 6 Contesting Native American Marriage Conclusion: The Power of the "M-Word" Appendix A: Methods Appendix B: Sample Characteristics: In-depth Interviews of Participants in Workshops for the General Population Notes Bibliography Index About the Author