Finding herself single at age 40, journalist Lori Gottlieb said the unthinkable in her March 2008 article in The Atlantic: Maybe she, and single women everywhere, were holding out for a mythical Prince Charming when what might really make them happy is Mr. Good Enough. Her ideas created a firestorm of debate, leading her to investigate the question: What makes for true long-term romantic fulfillment, and are we looking for those qualities in a partner?
From culture to biology, Marry Him explores the dilemma that so many women today seem to face—how to reconcile the desire for a husband and family with a list of must-haves so long that many great guys get rejected out of the gate. A provocative romantic wake-up call, Marry Him asks us to look at ourselves and our belief systems about what it really means to be happily in love. Gottlieb is in conversation with Scott Stossel, Deputy Editor of The Atlantic.
Bio
Lori Gottlieb
Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and the New York Times best-selling author of Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough, a surprising look at modern love, marriage, and what really matters for romantic happiness. A New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, the book was an international best-seller and has been translated into 14 languages. A contributing editor for The Atlantic, Gottlieb has also written for such publications as The New York Times, TIME, People, Elle, and Slate. Gottlieb has been featured on “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “The Early Show,” CNN, “Dr. Phil,” “Entertainment Tonight,” Oprah Radio, and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.” She is a parenting expert for Lifetime Moms and contributes to NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “This American Life.” Her Atlantic cover story, “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy,” was the most widely recommended piece in the history of the magazine.
Scott Stossel
Scott Stossel is editor of The Atlantic magazine and the author of the award-winning Sarge: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver, which The Boston Globe called an “extraordinary achievement” and which Publisher’s Weekly described as “a superbly researched, immensely readable political biography.” His articles and essays have appeared in a wide array of publications, including The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Stossel has been associated with The Atlantic on and off for 20 years, serving at various times as senior editor, managing editor, and deputy editor. He is a former executive editor of The American Prospect, and a member of the board of incorporators of Harvard Magazine.
Legally and socially sanctioned union, usually between a man and a woman, that is regulated by laws, rules, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners and accords status to their offspring (if any). The universality of marriage is attributed to the many basic social and personal functions it performs, such as procreation, regulation of sexual behaviour, care of children and their education and socialization, regulation of lines of descent, division of labour between the sexes, economic production and consumption, and satisfaction of personal needs for social status, affection, and companionship. Until modern times marriage was rarely a matter of free choice, and it was rarely motivated by romantic love. In most eras and most societies, permissible marriage partners have been carefully regulated. In societies in which the extended family remains the basic unit, marriages are usually arranged by the family. The assumption is that love between the partners comes after marriage, and much thought is given to the socioeconomic advantages accruing to the larger family from the match. Some form of dowry or bridewealth is almost universal in societies that use arranged marriages. The rituals and ceremonies surrounding marriage are associated primarily with religion and fertility and validate the importance of marriage for the continuation of a family, clan, tribe, or society. In recent years the definition of marriage as a union between members of opposite sexes has been challenged, and in 2000 The Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages. See alsobridewealth; divorce; dowry; exogamy and endogamy; polygamy.
The first two comments made me fear watching the video, but it turned out that while there indeed is quite a bit of "uh" (on both sides) it was a very enjoyable 47 minutes (first 2 are for introduction) anyway.
Interesting subject, articulate and smart interviewee. Unfortunately, interviewer is a weak link: rambling, too fond of statements rather than questions and, disconcertingly, more interested in lining up the next intervention than in listening to his interviewee's answer.
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