Sherif Girgis

This deserves about a 3.6 but I rounded up to 4/5.
Pros:
no exclusively religious arguments
respectful, i.e. no homophobia. In fact, a legal defense in favor of gay rights
readable, while there is some philosophical jargon, the authors define their terms well
concise, only about 150 pages
balanced, while the authors have a particular perspective, they interact with opposing viewpoints including direct criticisms of their arguments

Cons:
- somewhat repetitive, the structure of the book is to give a defense of conjugal marriage in the first 3 chapters and then rearticulate it different circumstances. It's a legitimate structure but can appear redundant to the reader
- broad, this is the common tug-of-war with an introduction to a topic: broad and shallow or deep and narrow? Here, I think the authors went a little too broad so as to leave the reader wanting more detail. An additional 100 pages or so would have been helpful.

Overall, good introduction to the topic. I would not consider it to be a knockdown argument that refutes all opposing viewpoints, but, that isn't its intent.… (more)

Academic and scholarly look at the traditional or conjugal interpretation of marriage and revisions of that interpretation, and the implication of those changes on family, on society, on children, and the state. Not specifically about gay marriage, but the decreasing value of marriage by culture. Only briefly looks at religious arguments – mostly societal and psychological and other viewpoints. Current culture will not agree with this book, but it unemotionally and calmly presents arguments for traditional marriage and implications for change. You can see those implications all around us now. And it ain’t pretty!… (more)