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The first book to deal with the history of failed marriages in England and how people dealt with them, from the Restoration to the 1980's. Until 1857, England was the only Protesta nt nation to have no legal mechanism for divorce for adultery, desertion, or cruelty, and husbands, wives, and lawyers went to great lengths to bend or break the law and get around these constraints. Stone examined court cases and legal records from 1660 to 1860 that were not previously explored. He not only shows the legal side, but also shows the way ideas and morals relating to love, courtship, marraige, sex, adultery, marriage cruelty, and marital breakdown changed over time, and sometimes compares these social attitudes to the rest of Europe. Includes plates of cartoons about adultery, including some bawdy Rowlandson and others. Bound in Oxford blue cloth. Jacket has some very slight wrinkles, otherwise book is like new. Oxford University Press. 1990. Hb, Dj. USED. $40.00 Show more