A Book for Couples
This post sort of deals with issues raised by the previous two. While I admit that my experience tends to validate Mushart's findings (see previous post), I am not without hope that things can be different.

A Book for Couples by Hugh and Gayle Prather is one I wish I had read early in my marriage. Of course, it wouldn't have done much good unless my husband had read and internalized it as well. But since then, I've given it to my daughter and her husband (they both have read it and it continues to inspire and inform the way they relate in difficult times). Last month I loaned my copy to a friend who recently ended a relationship that she had high hopes for. After reading only a part of it, she went out and bought four more copies for people she knows who are stuggling to find ways to make their marriages do more than just survive. A marriage becomes a third entity: there's him, her, and the marriage; both people have to give equal attention to that third entity. So, that's my recommendation for your reading "pleasure" after you read the Salon article mentioned by Anita in the previous post.