Same-Sex Marriage: The Legal and Psychological Evolution in America

This collection of eight essays by two attorneys and two psychologists sets itself apart in the crowded field of books about same-sex marriage by condensing dozens of dense volumes worth of legalese and psychobabble into a surprisingly readable overview. The authors, all advocates of legalizing same-sex marriage, consider legal history, political arguments, studies of gay and lesbian parents (and their children), marriage law in the United States and the institution's benefits. While most of the information offered is treated in greater depth elsewhere, this book's value lies in its readable distillation of the arguments and information of a small library's worth of titles; a well-sourced thumbnail history of homosexuality (from the ancient Greeks through Freud and Kinsey and up to the present) complements two nimble chapters outlining the history of state laws and U.S. Supreme Court decisions dealing with homosexuality. Readers who want to get quickly up to speed on the case for same-sex marriage will want to give this book a look.