Get Married

Sociologist and director of the National Marriage Project Dr. Bradford Wilcox reveals the social transformations and political posturing threatening the tradition American family and offers a way forward to protect and nurture it.

The American family is in crisis. Marriage and fertility rates are cratering. While divorce rates have returned to levels not seen since the early 1960s, family instability is on the rise for many American children. More couples are having children outside of marriage, in cohabiting unions, which are often unstable. Based on recent studies done by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, run by Dr. Bradford Wilcox, "cohabiting households are more likely to suffer from a range of emotional and social problems--drug use, depression, and dropping out of high school--compared to children in intact, married families." The financial, educational, emotional, and social impact of these trends is immeasurable, yet few have sounded the national alarm.

Since the 1960s, the American family has been buffeted by waves of progressive social change that has undermined and threatened its very existence, Wilcox argues. Some on the left have gone so far as to say that children make marriage miserable, that career is more likely bring personal fulfillment than a spouse, and that faith poisons family life. Yet he accuses many of those same people of raising traditional families while support public policies that ensure family failure for the poor and working classes--making it increasingly difficult for them to succeed.

In this hard-hitting book, Wilcox details Hollywood, the media, and the Ivory Tower's efforts to undermine the American family. He refutes commonly held misconceptions about marriage and raising children, and puts this sacred institution back to its rightful place as the center of American society. With Get Married Wilcox shows that a stable and satisfying family life is not only desirable but sustainable and offers inspiration and a true pathway that can benefit all Americans, not just a select few.