Why have people married through history? When you read about arranged marriages, marriages of convenience, dowries, etc. do you wonder what was the benefit of that particular system? Join us for this enlightening conversation with Professor Marcia Zug, as she discusses the history of marriage, how it's affected so many of our social norms, and if there is a benefit to taking economics and politics out of marriage so it can just be about love.

Zug identifies the myriad ways in which our laws and norms both treat marriage as means to an end and undervalue the very different legitimate ends that marriage can serve. "As Zug persuasively demonstrates, we’ve become too accustomed to viewing marriage as a means of apportioning rights and benefits in our society — at great cost to both the other values marriage can serve and the other ways we can and should confer those rights and benefits.” — Stephen Vladeck, author of The Shadow Docket

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In partnership with the Ashland Public Library.

Thanks to the Friends of the Bedford Free Public Library.