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OverviewSame-sex marriage has become one of the most volatile issues in American politics. But if most young people support gay marriage, and if there are clear indicators that a substantial majority of the population will soon favor it, why has the outcry against it been so strong? Bancroft Prize-winning historian and legal expert Michael Klarman offers here an illuminating and engaging account of modern litigation over same-sex marriage. After looking at the treatment of gays in the decades after World War II and the birth of the modern gay rights movement with the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969, Klarman describes the key legal cases involving gay marriage and the dramatic political backlashes they ignited. He examines the Hawaii Supreme Court's ruling in 1993, which sparked a vast political backlash--with more than 35 states and Congress enacting defense-of-marriage acts--and the Massachusetts decision in Goodridge in 2003, which inspired more than 25 states to adopt constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Klarman traces this same pattern--court victory followed by dramatic backlash--through cases in Vermont, California, and Iowa, taking the story right up to the present. He also describes some of the collateral political damage caused by court decisions in favor of gay marriage--Iowa judges losing their jobs, Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle losing his seat, and the possibly dispositive impact of gay marriage on the 2004 presidential election. But Klarman also notes several ways in which litigation has accelerated the coming of same-sex marriage: forcing people to discuss the issue, raising the hopes and expectations of gay activists, and making other reforms like civil unions seem more moderate by comparison. In the end, Klarman discusses how gay marriage is likely to evolve in the future, predicts how the U.S. Supreme Court might ultimately resolve the issue, and assesses the costs and benefits of activists pursuing social reforms such as gay marriage through the courts. From the Closet to the Altar will stand as the definitive one-volume history of the tumultuous emergence of same-sex marriage in American life as well as a landmark study of litigation, social reform, and the phenomenon of political backlash to court decisions. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Michael J. Klarman (Professor of Law, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School)Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc Dimensions: Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.10cm Weight: 0.398kg ISBN: 9780199360451ISBN 10: 0199360456 Pages: 300 Publication Date: 17 April 2014 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand  We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of ContentsReviewsA fascinating read, full of detail, and an important contribution to our understanding of the legal and political influences on America's fastest moving social change movement. --Richard Socarides, former Clinton White House Special Assistant, attorney and long-time gay rights advocate Michael Klarman, a distinguished legal historian and constitutional scholar, has written a fascinating and authoritative history of the efforts through litigation to legalize homosexual marriage-efforts that seemed at first fated only to create a backlash against homosexual rights, yet that eventually merged with a surprising evolution of American public opinion in favor of legalization, and may be on the brink of success. His book is indispensable to understanding a legal movement that is being compared to the legal movement to desegregate the South. --Judge Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Litigation has played a key role in catalyzing-and helping to win-gay people's struggle to achieve marriage equality. But these court victories have not been without their political costs. Michael Klarman assesses these intertwining stories with insight and objectivity, making his book a must-read for anyone interested in how courts shape the trajectories of social movements. --Patrick Egan, New York University Klarman's historical account is comprehensive, trenchant, and provocative. --The New York Review of Books """A fascinating read, full of detail, and an important contribution to our understanding of the legal and political influences on America's fastest moving social change movement.""--Richard Socarides, former Clinton White House Special Assistant, attorney and long-time gay rights advocate ""Michael Klarman, a distinguished legal historian and constitutional scholar, has written a fascinating and authoritative history of the efforts through litigation to legalize homosexual marriage-efforts that seemed at first fated only to create a backlash against homosexual rights, yet that eventually merged with a surprising evolution of American public opinion in favor of legalization, and may be on the brink of success. His book is indispensable to understanding a legal movement that is being compared to the legal movement to desegregate the South.""--Judge Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ""Litigation has played a key role in catalyzing-and helping to win-gay people's struggle to achieve marriage equality. But these court victories have not been without their political costs. Michael Klarman assesses these intertwining stories with insight and objectivity, making his book a must-read for anyone interested in how courts shape the trajectories of social movements.""--Patrick Egan, New York University ""Klarman's historical account is comprehensive, trenchant, and provocative."" --The New York Review of Books" A fascinating read, full of detail, and an important contribution to our understanding of the legal and political influences on America's fastest moving social change movement. --Richard Socarides, former Clinton White House Special Assistant, attorney and long-time gay rights advocate Michael Klarman, a distinguished legal historian and constitutional scholar, has written a fascinating and authoritative history of the efforts through litigation to legalize homosexual marriage-efforts that seemed at first fated only to create a backlash against homosexual rights, yet that eventually merged with a surprising evolution of American public opinion in favor of legalization, and may be on the brink of success. His book is indispensable to understanding a legal movement that is being compared to the legal movement to desegregate the South. --Judge Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Litigation has played a key role in catalyzing-and helping to win-gay people's struggle to achieve marriage equality. But these court victories have not been without their political costs. Michael Klarman assesses these intertwining stories with insight and objectivity, making his book a must-read for anyone interested in how courts shape the trajectories of social movements. --Patrick Egan, New York University Klarman's historical account is comprehensive, trenchant, and provocative. --The York Review of Books A fascinating read, full of detail, and an important contribution to our understanding of the legal and political influences on America's fastest moving social change movement. --Richard Socarides, former Clinton White House Special Assistant, attorney and long-time gay rights advocate Michael Klarman, a distinguished legal historian and constitutional scholar, has written a fascinating and authoritative history of the efforts through litigation to legalize homosexual marriage-efforts that Author InformationMichael J. Klarman is the Kirkland & Ellis Professor at Harvard Law School. He is the author of From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality (winner of the Bancroft Prize in History in 2005), Unfinished Business: Racial Equality in American History, and Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Movement. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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