A very interesting take on the topic of history of marriage and relationships! Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

Thank you Netgalley and Steerforth press for access to this arc.

I knew from the blurb that this wasn’t going to be a lighthearted, fun look at the history of the institution of marriage in the United States. And it wasn’t. But by the end of chapter one, I knew it was going to be a fairly bleak examination of something that most people take for granted that they will, at one point in their lives, be a part of – marriage. As far as how it affects women, minorities, and immigrants, well let’s just say that despite some laws meant to help, and many laws meant to hinder, the outcome usually isn’t good.

I must warn people about chapter four. Chapter four is one huge trigger warning as it basically describes the many ways that marriage can be used as a “Get Out of Jail Free” card by abusers, criminal suspects, and rapists among others. If this isn’t bad enough, the (recent) statements made by judges in some of these cases are enough to make me want to go postal on them. Apparently, based on studies of Civil War pensions, bigamy was widespread in an age in which divorce was difficult.

Marcia Zug has produced a book that is well written and detailed with about 70 some pages of footnotes but which is still accessible for an armchair reader. “You’ll Do” is an informative but (I’ll be honest) ultimately depressing look at why people marry for reasons other than love. B-

Illuminating and clear-eyed about why we marry and what results, Marcia Zug's YOU'LL DO is a fascinating dive into the machinery and system of marriage in the rights conferred, benefits promised, and happily ever after of fairy tales. Her thorough examination of the topic is like nothing I have ever seen before, suggesting how differing agendas intersect in the individual drive for partnership, trust, and love. I am now better informed and more aware of how and why individuals join lives -- and reasons why unions fall short or completely disintegrate as well as reasons to thrive and grow together and as individuals. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

Marriage? For love? Not for everyone. You’ll Do is an interesting and quick read. Sometimes surprising and sometimes downright shocking, this book brings awareness to some of the reasons couples marry. It brings to light many injustices with the institution many of us associate with love. It’s an eye-opener and would be a great book for open discussion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Steerforth for providing me with an ARC of this book.

This book offers an insight into marriage and the reasons for marriage down the line and I found it to be very interesting, though it focuses mostly on America and draws from some bits of Europe-and quite interesting especially that bit on cavemen.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

This book critically analyzes marriage’s elevated status in American culture, exploring how society has long relied on it to address injustices while deflecting responsibility from government and institutions. Through historical examples from slavery to the Depression, the author illustrates the problematic tradition of using marriage as a solution to racial, gender, and economic discrimination rather than directly confronting systemic societal issues.

This book offers a thorough and in-depth exploration of the politics and social norms relating to marriage throughout American history. The writing style is engaging and easy to read. The tongue-in-cheek title is a little misleading, since this is a serious and sometimes scathing analysis.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

A very informative book about the history of the whys of marriage. It not only gives the reasons, but plenty of interesting, informative examples. Great read if you are into the history of marriage! :)

It has to be said upfront that even though this book is written by a lawyer and talks about laws, it can be read with great pleasure by people without legal background. In her book, Marcia Zug looks at a place of marriage in America and subsequently all the values and benefits society ascribes to marriage. Marcia Zug explains that marriage isn't always a consummation of love, there are many other reasons for people to get married. She is using her family's example as a starting point of her interest in the subject. In early 1930s, her aunt traveled to Poland to marry her friend's brother. She didn't know or love him, her sole purpose was to save his life since their marriage allowed him to escape Poland where as a Jew he most likely would have perished during World War II. That story told at the beginning of the book grabs your attention, and what follows is even more fascinating. With subtle humor and help from many legal cases, Zug looks at many instances when laws governing marriage can serve not only to people's benefit but also to denigrate or discriminate women, unmarried people, non-white people, and poor, sometimes against the intended purpose of the law and sometimes to allow the society to use marriage as "a Band-Aid...when society is too sexist, too racist, or just too lazy to implement better solutions." The book gives you an appreciation of how difficult it is to craft the fool-proof law and how unfair, bias and outdated the law can be. Among the reasons to marry she identifies financial security, desire to elevate one of the parties’ social, political, racial, or immigration status or acquire some other benefit the society grants to married people. One of the most nefarious reasons discussed in the book is using marriage as defense and protection against criminal prosecution. The book is very educational. It is fascinating to follow the progression of legal argument, and the author makes it easy to understand complex legal concepts. People who like watching court TV shows will enjoy this book, people interested in feminism will definitely find it worthwhile. It should be also recommended to younger people who are considering marriage's pros and cons.

An intriguing, well researched, and informative book that made me learn something more about marriage and how it changed in history.
Excellent and well done.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was a very engaging read. Concepts that I knew of vaguely (the concept of marrying for 'love' is a fairly modern one, for example) were expanded upon and then turned on their heads. The ways in which laws that were originally intended to further women's rights (the common law marriage laws, for example) were upended and instead used to further discrimination against women was infuriating. I also appreciated how the author did not simply look to the history of white women's marriage in America & instead expanded the scope to look at how the institute of marriage was used horrifically against women of colour.

5/5 stars. A very informative and entertaining look into the legal institute of marriage in America, and one I highly recommend.

3.5 stars. This book was very informative, if a bit discouraging. No one wants to think about the myriad of ways people abuse others, and unfortunately a significant number of the “protections” offered to married persons promote and encourage some form of abuse.

Very well researched and laid out in a clear and concise manner. The author is clearly passionate about the topic, and cites numerous references. Overall a well-written and interesting book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Marcia A. Zug, and Steerforth for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ah, to hell with it. Five stars.

"You'll Do" is a history of marrying for reasons other than love in the US: money, citizenship, parental rights... Zug has sympathy for those involved and a good ear for relevant details. Why do people choose these marriages? How is marriage a transaction, and why does that transaction make sense, even if it seems odd from the outside? How do mentalities change?

Because marriage is, essentially, a contract, the book often references law and court decisions on marriage disputes - they're very well chosen for impact, nicely explained even to a lay audience such as myself, who is neither a lawyer, nor an American, and Zug knows when to pull back and avoid falling into the trap of hyperbole.

I'm fascinated by the way in which winning some battles (social, legal) led to complications and problems elsewhere down the line (for example, a growing assumption that marriage should be based on love leads to women not being compensated for their efforts at home if a marriage failed, <i>but in previous eras they would have been compensated since marriage was seen as an economical transaction</i>).

I'm also fascinated by the fact that the US seems to attribute magical powers to marriage occasionally, and keep adding benefits to it to encourage it, sometimes backfiring. It's really something to think about, throwing a light on state interference in private lives.

Inspired by the story of her great-aunt, who married a stranger to help him get out of Europe ahead of the Nazis, Zug examines several of the reasons people might marry other than love, namely: money, status, government benefits/citizenship, child custody, and money. It was a deliberate choice not to write about people who marry for religious reasons.

Some things I liked:
- It was surprising to learn that in Revolutionary America single men were more harshly judged than single women (though it was no joy to be a single woman, either, and later chapters go on to describe how the married state is morally preferable to being single in virtually every scenario).
- The inclusion of contemporary political cartoons, advertisements, and portraits added depth and context.

When I picked up the book, I was expecting something more lighthearted. You’ll Do is informative, but ultimately failed to hold my attention. It was a struggle to convince myself to pick it up again whenever I took a break (please note, it took me two weeks to read this). I think part of it was because the book is an unrelenting litany of all the ways women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ folks are simultaneously held to higher standards and granted fewer rights.

You’ll Do is too general to be of much use as a scholarly work (though it could be worth reading through the source notes) and it’s too much of a downer to be the sort of thing I’d give to someone else. Perhaps it’s the sort of book that’s intended for book groups. In any case, I’m not entirely sure who I would suggest this to.

Not nearly as interesting as I had hoped . I'm sure there is a market for this book . It is not me. I will not recommend.

You’ll Do is a wonderfully in-depth look at why people have gotten married over the years. The majority of the examples are based on cases or relationships in the United States of America.

What I truly appreciated is that the author examines all sides of a reason. They consider the benefits and the drawbacks for men, women, people of color, different socioeconomic statuses, etc.

I truly found this book enlightening and entertaining. There were so many examples and valid points brought out that I was engrossed in reading more.

Trigger Warnings:
I will say that marriage is not all sunshine and rainbows, never has been throughout history. That being said, there are examples of how people have been harmed because of marriage. Murder, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, statutory rape, and rape are all brought up at least once.

When I first met my, now, husband face to face after chatting to him for several months from a distance my initial words were ‘You’ll do’ so naturally the title of this book intrigued and amused me. Glad to report we’re very happily married and not for any of the reasons mentioned within this book.
The book is a truly fascinating and eye opening delve into reasons for marrying which are not love. Obviously I’m not naive but a lot of the content was news to me and the ins and outs of the legalities were fascinating, if not a little depressing at times. As a ‘smug married’ it made for slightly voyeuristic and thank goodness this hasn’t happened to me style viewing but there was a lot of room for examination of human nature, the problems with legalities and the inequalities of a (still) male led world. There was plenty of excellent historical detail and multi national examples and lots of real case studies to add to the well examined and discussed areas up for scrutiny.
An absolutely brilliant read on a subject I haven’t seen up for discussion in such detail before. Definitely recommend.

What a fun, quirky history! I really appreciated the deep dive into marrying for not-love. I felt like the histories and stories were well researched but the writing wasn't dry. I knew there were a lot of reasons why people would get married but this really explored all of them. Or just about all! An entertaining and informative little book.

I really enjoyed reading the ARC of this book. The author thoughtfully structures the book and uses fascinating anecdotes and images to support her points. Her writing style is really engaging and she balances the tone well. She sensitively handles and reflects on some very heavy topics.

The only thing that I note is that, especially in early chapters, the author uses a lot of examples and quotes from English authors such as Jane Austen or descriptions of English events. Since the book deals with marriage in America, I would have either liked it to be more focused on American sources OR to also use sources from places other than England (France, China, Spain, etc) in order to provide context for American marriage.

Why would people get married if they didn't love each other? Turns out, there are MANY reasons! In addition to royal-types marrying to link dynasties and golddiggers marrying for money (which were the reasons I could have named before reading this book) people have married for dozens of reasons which they thought would lead to greater security and happiness. And, now that I know the stories of some of those people, I have much more sympathy for those reasons than I ever would have supposed. (Although maybe not too much sympathy for modern "gold-diggers" who do still hunt in surprisingly up-front ways.) I'm tempted to list some of the most interesting reasons, but I'll save that for you to discover if you read the book.
This is a quick-moving book that covers numerous real-life marriage stories told from newspaper articles and court cases. Although I didn't agree with all of the author's conclusions about the importance of marriage and how governments should support it, I was fascinated by the stories and will certainly think of marriage in a new light.
And - the title? Come on, that's got to be one of the best titles of the year.

An interesting overview of reasons other than love that people would marry. The book looks mostly at the United States and includes things such as the need for a woman to be financially secure, as well as the government benefits that come to married couples that single people miss out on. As a single woman, I know that I am blessed to live in a time when not only am I not viewed with suspicion, but that I can also provide well for myself without a spouse, though there definitely ways I don't qualify for the support that married people and families do. I live in Canada, so aspects of the book don't apply or are different such as the rules around support for partners if a common-law relationship ends, but I enjoyed the book all the same.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley, all opinions are my own.