The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts - Softcover

Inspired by the hope that the experience of satisfied husbands and wives might provide useful lessons to others, Wallerstein, a clinical psychologist and specialist on divorce, and Sandra Blakeslee, who writes frequently for The New York Times, interviewed 50 predominantly middle-class, northern California couples who had been married nine years or more and had at least one child. These strong marriages flourish, they argue, because every partner confronted a series of psychological tasks including separating emotionally from the family of childhood, carving out his or her autonomy and creating an environment where anger and conflict could be safely vented. The couples reveal their interior lives in rich, explicit detail.

Judith S. Wallerstein is the author, with the award-winning science writer Sandra Blakeslee, of the national bestsellers The Good Marriage; The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce; and, most recently, What About the Kids? One of the nation's leading experts on divorce, Wallerstein has appeared on Oprah,The Today Show, and Good Morning America.