Rules of Engagement: Four Couples and American Marriage Today

Rules of Engagement follows the trials and triumphs of four very real upper-class Sarah and Eaton, whose 1950s marriage has been transformed in the wake of feminism; working-class Mike and Claire, who have struggled through multiple separations and reconciliations in their common-law marriage; middle-class African-Americans Carlita and Samuel, striving to succeed with their two young children in an often hostile world; and middle-aged Neal and Vera, idealists whose relationship has survived an experiment with “open marriage.”

From these four couples, Harris draws invaluable lessons about relationships in general and about the unique nature of American marriage, an institution that continues to thrive in an ever-changing world because of our willingness to experiment with and reinvent it.