Faculty Books

MA RRIA GE AND THE FAMILY IN AMER-ICAN CULTURE. By Andrew G. Truxaland Francis E. Merrill '26. New York: Pren-tice-Hall, 1953. 587 pp. $7.65.

"Red" Merrill '26 of the Dartmouth Sociology staff and his former colleague, Andrew Truxal (now President of Hood College, Maryland), have done an unusually thorough job of revising and improving their earlier book on The Family in American Culture.

Written not as a handbook for newlyweds but as a description and analysis of American courtship and family behavior, their new book has a clarity of definition and ease of style which make it readable for any Dartmouth an and his wife. Despite the inclusion of important new chapters on courtship and marriage, the authors have succeeded in screening out the less significant portions of their earlier edition in such a way that the combined result is streamlined and smooth.

Truxal and Merrill tend to overwork certain "grand ideas" such as the romantic notion in American life, the competitive characteristics of dating, and the individualism of American family members. Their essays on these themes are effectively developed, but deserve further qualification in the light of research findings. Were this to be done, the authors would not need to be quite so unhappy about the "glorious irrationality of mate selection, etc. in this country.

On the whole, however, Truxal and Merrill have made a masterful analysis of the ways American families are influenced by social forces and of the interaction of persons (especially husbands and wives) within marriage. Therefore, although this book is designed primarily as a text for college courses in Marriage and the Family, its stimulating content conveyed by an attractive typograph) and a well-knit organization makes it a con tender for alumni reading as well.