Customer Rating: 
Summary: Interesting historical work
Comment: I'm not a historian, but I love reading books on obscure bits of history. Generally they disappoint: either they're so popularized that I find myself unable to trust a word that they say (lack of footnotes generally makes it worse!) or so academic that they're impossible to understand (at least without having read another book on the subject first-- or several dozen). "Age, Marriage, and Politics" did not disappoint.Rheubottom's primary background appears to be in anthropology, and it shows. He uses case studies; he looks at dowries; he makes genealogical charts using triangles and circles for boys and girls. He explains thoroughly enough that even I can understand the ideas, and he seems to be aiming the book at people who (like me) know nothing about Ragusa and very little about how similar city-states might have worked, since he goes into detail about various social structures rather than saying, say, "the Ragusan court system differed from the Venetian only on the following points." He provides all the little details that make me so happy when I'm reading a history book. (Yes, I do this for fun.)
Obviously, at this price you're not going to be buying it for fun. Look for it in the library when you've exhausted the potential of the fiction section. If you're anything like me you'll enjoy it.
