Get Married

Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization

Brad Wilcox

• Publisher: Broadside e-books
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9780063210868
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Conservatism & Liberalism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read

What's the recipe for happiness? If you listen to liberal elites or red pill influencers, you'd say it's making money, living for yourself, and staying single without kids —and you'd be wrong. Nothing predicts happiness better than a good marriage.

According to new research by the University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox, our kids and communities—not to mention our civilization as a whole—are much more likely to flourish when the state of our unions is strong. Despite this, record numbers of Americans are not succeeding at getting or staying married.

In this hard-hitting book, Wilcox reveals the anti-family messages and policies coming out of Holly­wood, Washington, the media, academia, and corporate America that have weakened marriage. Along the way, he knocks down a number of myths they've propa­gated. He reveals:

• Both men and women who get and stay married accumulate much greater wealth than people who don't marry.

• Married men and women with families report more meaningful lives, compared with their single and childless peers.

• Couples who take a "we-before-me" approach to married life—by, for instance, sharing joint checking accounts—are happier and less divorce-prone than couples who do not.

• Couples who forge "family-first" marriages—characterized by frequent date nights, family fun time, and chores done with the kids—enjoy the happiest marriages.

Wilcox spotlights four groups—Asian American, Conservative, Faithful, and Strivers—who have built strong, stable marriages by defying the me-first mes­sages of our elites in favor of a family-first way of life.

This is a book for anyone who wants to under­stand why, even as fewer men and women tie the knot, America's most fundamental institution matters for our civilization more than ever. And for men and women looking to establish strong, stable, and happy unions for themselves and their children, Get Married reveals the road forward.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: Devaluing Our Most Important Institution
• Introduction: Marriage since the “Me” Decade
• Chapter 1: The Closing of the American Heart: The State of Our Unions
• Chapter 2: The Masters of Marriage: Asian Americans, Conservatives, the Faithful, and Strivers
• Chapter 3: The Flying Solo Myth: Marriage Is of No Benefit to Men and Women Today
• Chapter 4: The Family Diversity Myth: Love and Money, Not Marriage, Make a Family
• Chapter 5: The Soulmate Myth: Love, for as Long as It Makes Me Feel Happy
• Chapter 6: We Before Me: Looking Out for Number One Is a Recipe for Marital Failure
• Chapter 7: The Parent Trap: The False Notion that Kids Make Life and Marriage Miserable
• Chapter 8: The “Maybe I Do” Mentality: No Way to Protect Your Marriage
• Chapter 9: To Provide, Protect, and Pay Attention: What Really Makes Her Happy
• Chapter 10: In God We Trust: How Religion Helps, Not Harms, Your Marriage
• Chapter 11: Orphaned: How Our Political Class Fails the American Family
• Conclusion: In Pursuit of Happiness
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Praise for Brad Wilcox
• Also by Brad Wilcox
• Copyright
• About the Publisher