Unquiet Lives: Marriage and Marriage Breakdown in England, 1660-1800

Description

Based on vivid court records and newspaper advertisements, this 2003 book is a pioneering account of the expectations and experiences of married life among the middle and labouring ranks in the long eighteenth century. Its original methodology draws attention to the material life of marriage, which has long been dominated by theories of emotional shifts or fashionable accounts of spouses' gendered, oppositional lives. Thus it challenges preconceptions about authority in the household, by showing the extent to which husbands depended upon their wives' vital economic activities: household management and child care. Not only did this forge co-dependency between spouses, it undermined men's autonomy. The power balance within marriage is further revised by evidence that the sexual double standard was not rigidly applied in everyday life. The book also shows that ideas about adultery and domestic violence evolved in the eighteenth century, influenced by new models of masculinity and femininity.

Joanne Bailey is a Junior research Fellow, Merton College, Oxford.

From the hardback review: 'This is a carefully researched book that enriches our understanding of marriage in the long eighteenth century.' Reviews in History From the hardback review: '... subtle, rich and humane picture of the realities and practicalities of marriage as lived.' Women's History Magazine From the hardback review: '... lively and often trenchant study ... Bailey backs up a sensitive reading of texts and contexts with judicious quantification.' History From the hardback review: '... wide range of issues ... important new book ...' Journal of Continuity and Change From the hardback review: 'This book successfully meets it's claim to be "a pioneering account of the expectations and experiences of married life among the middle and labouring ranks in the long eighteenth century" ...an excellent analysis of the crazy and changing popular assumptions about male and female bodies which underlines domestic violence. ...full of interesting, minutely researched, historical detail ... a fascinating work for the general reader, and a neccessary work for historians of marriage.' INTAMS