Plural Marriage for Our Times: A Reinvented Option

(Hardback, 2nd edition)

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This thoroughly revised second edition offers a child-centered, international perspective as it urges America to de-stigmatize alternate family forms. In this book's first edition, Philip L. Kilbride showed polygamy as the preferred marriage pattern in most parts of the nonwestern world and explained how plural marriage is surfacing in western countries to address economic and spiritual crises. In Plural Marriage for Our Times: A Reinvented Option Second Edition, Kilbride and his coauthor, Douglas R. Page, update and enhance this thesis in light of contemporary circumstances, new studies, and current legal debates. This new edition examines plural marriage's benefits for children. It extends the discussion of polygamy and religion, especially the Muslim perspective on marriage and family; considers the illegal polygamy of immigrants; and looks at multiple marriage in African American communities, where "crisis polygamy" is a growing phenomenon. The authors suggest Americans consider plural marriage as a viable practice that can help reduce the divorce rate, better protect women and children, and serve as an alternative to the "fractured family" so prevalent in America today.

Reviews

Journalist Page joins anthropologist Kilbride (Bryn Mawr) in expanding the first edition (CH, Apr'95, 32-4792) of Kilbride's extremely interesting book that presents the viewpoint that plural marriages could possibly be on the horizon for the US and other countries. The authors present many different cultural, sociological, and moral viewpoints concerning plural marriage and make a strong case for considering it as an alternative for traditional monogamous marriage. They address theology as well as political agendas from all sides, and subjects such as polyamory, swinging, and serial monogamy. In addition, the authors have conducted interviews and done extensive research on the subject from both international and historical viewpoints, and discuss in great detail the possible benefits to families, children, and society as a whole. * Choice *

Author Bio

Philip L. Kilbride, PhD, is professor of anthropology at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA. Douglas R. Page, MBA, is a freelance writer and reporter.