Untying the Knot
A Short History of Divorce

A fascinating study of the rapid spread of divorce and its affect on family life in Western society.

Roderick Phillips (Author)

9780521423700, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 June 1991

280 pages
21.6 x 13.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.36 kg

'... in its originality of concept and thoroughness of execution his book must be called an outstanding achievement'. Peter Laslett, The Times Literary Supplement

The rapid spread of divorce since the 1960s has dramatically affected family life in Western society. Extensive research has been devoted to this recent period of change, and yet the long-term history of divorce has remained surprisingly obscure. Roderick Phillips, author of the highly acclaimed magisterial history of divorce, Putting Asunder, has now abridged his fascinating and wide-ranging study for a general readership. Encompassing religious and secular attitudes to divorce, the evolution of divorce laws, and changing responses to marriage breakdown, Untying the Knot offers a highly readable and thought-provoking history of the phenomenon, placed illuminatingly against a variety of social, economic, political and cultural backgrounds.

Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Catholics and protestants
2. Seventeenth-century England and its American colonies
3. Secularisation, enlightenment, and the French revolution
4. Formal and informal divorce in early modern society
5. The meaning and context of marriage breakdown
6. The nineteenth century: liberalisation and reaction
7. Divorce as a social issue, 1850–1914
8. Twentieth century and the rise of mass divorce
9. Explaining the rise of divorce, 1870–1990
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB]