THE COURAGE TO DIVORCE

. . . and lots of it is exactly what it takes to buck a rigged system (counseling services, the courts, etc.) and the cultural biases that are geared to salvaging a dying relationship -- and who ever considers the fact that more couples regret their union than do their divorce? Even in the new enlightenment the emphasis has merely shifted from divorce as a moral issue to divorce as a clinical problem; the partner committed to preserving a troubled marriage is considered mature, the one attempting to end the misery neurotic -- no matter that reasons for splitting often are healthier than motives for wedding. In a well-reasoned attempt to legitimize divorce -- one of the soundest books yet to appear and one that effectively challenges such standards in family sociology as William Goode's The Family -- therapists Gettleman and Markowitz persuasively argue against the accepted anti-divorce wisdom as it applies to the preservation of the nuclear family, children and custody arrangements, economics, fatherhood/motherhood roles, and they show that change, if given a positive emphasis, can be life giving, fulfilling and creative. A book that asks the right questions -- and offers knowledgeable, civilized solutions.