Marriage is often described as a melding of two people into one. But what--or who--must be lost, fragmented, or buried in that process? Dolan reveals the contradiction that lies at the very heart of modern marriage. We have inherited from early modern England a model of marriage, she contends, so flawed that its logical consequence is conflict.

Introduction
Chapter One. One Flesh, Two Heads: Debating the Biblical Blueprint for Marriage in the Seventeenth and Twentieth Centuries.
Chapter Two. Battered Women, Petty Traitors, and the Legacy of Coverture
Chapter Three. Fighting for the Breeches, Sharing the Rod: Spouses, Servants, and the Struggle for Equality
Chapter Four. How a Maiden Keeps Her Head: Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, and the Perils of Marriage
Afterword

Notes
Index
Acknowledgments