Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization

Written by Brad Wilcox

Narrated by Mark Deakins

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read

University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox explains how our ruling class publicly disparages marriage – the institution most likely to deliver prosperity and happiness to ordinary Americans – while privately embracing it.

America is in crisis. Happiness is falling, loneliness and despair are rising, too many schools are riddled by fights and failure, crime is unacceptably high, and the American Dream is out of reach for millions. The problems are visible to us all, but virtually no one is talking about the solution that matters most: Marriage.

New research by University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox shows that Americans who get married and have children today are leading happier and more prosperous lives, on average, than men and women who are single and childless. In fact, nothing predicts happiness in life better than a good marriage—not even a hefty bank account or a great career. And kids and communities—not to mention our civilization as a whole—are much more likely to flourish when the state of our unions is strong, according to Wilcox, who directs the National Marriage Project at U.Va. 

But our country is in crisis because record numbers of Americans are not succeeding at getting or staying married. In this hard-hitting book, Wilcox reveals the anti-family messages and policies that have weakened marriage coming out of Hollywood, Washington, the media, academia, and corporate America. 

The good news, however, is that millions of Americans are succeeding at marriage. Dr. Wilcox spotlights four groups—Asian, conservative, religious, and college-educated Americans—who are building strong and stable marriages by defying the me-first messages of our elites in favor of a family-first way of life. 

This is a book for anyone who wants to understand why, even as fewer men and women tie the knot, America’s most fundamental institution matters more than ever for our civilization. And for men and women looking to forge strong, stable, and happy unions for themselves and their children, Get Married reveals the road forward.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Feb 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9780063210875

Brad Wilcox

BRAD WILCOX is a professor of sociology and the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, the Future of Freedom Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He studies marital quality; marital stability; and the impact of strong and stable marriages upon men, women, and children. The author and editor of six books, Wilcox has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and National Review, as well as for scientific journals such as the American Sociological Review and the Journal of Marriage and Family. A Connecticut native, he now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and family.

Reviews for Get Married

[Tom Miller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book underlines the positive role marriage plays in society: if you want to have a happy life, a fulfilling relationship and give your children the best opportunity in life, then you are much more likely to succeed in those goals if you get married. Today’s elite and intelligentsia say that marriage is not valuable, while they strive to make their own marriages strong. Do as they do, not as they say.