Marcia Zug, You’ll Do, Thurs. May 9, 5 pm

Event Details

Join us Thurs. May 9, 5 pm at Blue Bicycle Books for an evening with Professor Marcia Zug to celebrate the release of her newest book "You’ll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love," (Steerforth, 336 pp., $29.99). Zug will be joined in conversation Local attorney Greg Forman.

About the book:

Americans hold marriage in such high esteem that we push people toward it, reward them for taking part in it, and fetishize its benefits to the point that we routinely ignore or excuse bad behavior and societal ills in the name of protecting and promoting it.

The widely overlooked problem with this tradition is that individuals and society have relied on marriage to address or dismiss a range of injustices and inequities, from gender- and race-based discrimination, sexual violence, and predation to unequal financial treatment.

Through revealing storytelling, Zug builds a compelling case that when marriage is touted as “the solution” to such problems, it absolves the government, and society, of the responsibility for directly addressing them.

About the author:

Professor Zug teaches classes on Family Law, Reproductive Rights, Immigration Law, and Federal Indian Law. She has written numerous articles on these topics that have appeared in publications including The Yale Law Journal, The UC Davis Law Review, The BYU Law Review, The American Indian Law Review, and The Virginia Law and Policy Review. Professor Zug’s family law scholarship focuses on marriage law and policy. Her first book, Buying a Bride: An Engaging History of Mail-Order Matches, was published in 2016 and reviewed in The New Yorker, The Atlantic and The Times Literary Supplement. Her second book, "You’ll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love," will be published in January 2024.