From the Publisher
This meticulously researched book explores how changing patterns of youth, adulthood, geography, and gender have shaped American norms and expectations of youthful marriage. Made human by his telling of richly detailed personal stories, Nicholas Syrett's findings will surprise and likely shock contemporary readers.—Stephanie Coontz, author of Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage
American Child Bride is a timely and compelling book. In an era when marriage law and practice once again grab headlines, Nicholas L. Syrett offers us a sweeping history that chronicles changing attitudes and policies toward one of the most persistent yet controversial marital acts: young girls marrying older men. In doing so, Syrett helps us understand the larger social and cultural implications of clashes over marriage in the past and present.—Michael Grossberg, Indiana University Bloomington
In this original and timely book, Nicholas L. Syrett tackles the controversial topic of child marriage, recovering child brides' experiences while simultaneously historicizing the cultural discomfort these marriages have provoked. Syrett reveals the complexity in these relationships—some were coercive and violent, but, counterintuitively, others enabled minors to gain agency and challenge the idea of childhood itself. Cogent, brilliantly researched, and rendered in sterling prose, American Child Bride is a major new work in the field of childhood studies.—Robin Bernstein, author of Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights
