The politics of same-sex marriage /

Fourteen scholarly essays are included in this excellent collection on the politics surrounding one of the most widely discussed public policy matters of the decade. The editors show that the battle over same-sex marriage is political in a very broad sense, with impact not just in the electoral and policy-making arenas but also in the lives of real Americans. Exhibiting the true interdisciplinarity necessary to fully understand this complex issue, the authors draw upon a wide array of methodologies--historical, psychological, legal, sociological, and theological, as well as more traditional political science methodologies such as voting and public opinion analysis. While some of the authors are explicitly normative in their reactions to the events of the past decade, these observations--such as John D'Emilio's grappling with the "boomerang" impact of litigation whose goal is equality for gay/lesbian Americans--typically only add depth to the analysis. Although there is some redundancy when it comes to the history of efforts to gain same-sex marriage and the countermovement against it, this collection serves as a crucial addition to collections for use by students and scholars of different levels working on this topic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. J. Barth Hendrix College