Includes bibliographical references (pages 599-614).

Introduction: What is marriage? An exploration / Don Browning -- Why get married at all?: From The future of marriage in western civilization / Edward Westermarck -- Genesis 1-4 -- The man with no family to take leave of / Tu Fu -- The seven benedictions of Jewish marriage -- "The fifth day," from The decameron / Giovanni Boccaccio -- The judgment / Franz Kafka -- What are we promising?: I Corinthians 7:1-39 -- The good of marriage / St. Augustine -- From the Summa Theologica / St. Thomas Aquinas -- The wedding ceremony from the Book of common prayer -- "Marriage," from The colloquies / Desiderius Erasmus.

"An iron net," from the Hindu Mahabharata / William Buck -- From On modern marriage and other observations / Isak Dinesen -- Can love last a lifetime?: "The great rooted bed," Book 23 in The Odyssey / Homer -- Cupid and Psyche / Apuleius -- "Izutsu / Zeami Motokiyo -- Othello, act III, scene III / William Shakespeare -- From The mystery of love and marriage: a study in the theology of sexual relation / Derrick Sherwin Bailey -- From The good marriage: how and why love lasts / Judith Wallerstein -- Should I marry one of my own?: From Medea / Euripides -- Judges 14-15 -- The book of Ruth.

The thirteenth night / Higuchi Ichiyo -- From Love / Elizabeth von Arnim -- "A Jew discovered," from The color of water: a black man's tribute to his white mother / James McBride -- How do we handle money?: From Politics / Aristotle -- Proverbs 31 -- Beginning of Spring--a stroll with my wife / Hsu Chun Ch'ien -- From Pride and prejudice / Jane Austen -- From Paradise lost / John Milton -- Marriage / Bronislaw Malinowski -- Who's the head of the family?: Ephesians 5:22-33 -- "The wife of Bath," from The canterbury tales / Geoffrey Chaucer -- The man makes and the woman takes / an African-American folktale.

The taming of the shrew, act III, scene II; act IV, scenes I and II / William Shakespeare -- From On the subjection of women / John Stuart Mill -- From Getting married / George Bernard Shaw -- Gender politics: love and power in the private and public spheres / Francesca M. Cancian -- What about children?: Genesis 17-18:15; 22:1-19 -- Psalms 127:3-5; 128 -- The forsaken wife / Ts'ao Chih -- The estate of marriage / Martin Luther -- From Anna Karenina / Leo Tolstoy -- From To the lighthouse / Virginia Woolf.

What about when we fight?: For better, for worse / Joseph E. Kerns -- On questions of marriage and sex: to Stephen Roth / Martin Luther -- From Daniel Deronda / George Eliot -- Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? act I / Edward Albee -- Your beloved foe / Bill Cosby -- From The seven principles for making marriage work / John Gottman -- What about divorce?: Deuteronomy 24:1-5 -- Matthew 19:1-11; Mark 10:2-12 -- "Salvation," Book four of the Summa contra gentiles / St. Thomas Aquinas -- From De regno christi / Martin Bucer -- The Qur'an 2:223-42; 4:35 -- From The code of maimonides.

Two anonymous Chinese reflections on divorce -- From Two treatises on government / John Locke -- Divorce / Bertrand Russell -- From The unexpected legacy of divorce / Judith Wallerstein -- Will we grow old together?: From Love and other infectious diseases / Molly Haskell -- "The voices of our informants," from Vital involvement in old age / Erik Erikson and others -- Elegy for Iris / John Bayley -- From Love in the time of cholera / Gabriel Garcia Marquez -- From Alcestis / Euripides -- From Man's search for meaning / Viktor Frankl.