"The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap."

Scholar and author Stephanie Coontz explores the myths of traditional marriage.

Download Audio (length: 43:50)

Coontz is a faculty member at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and the director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families. She has published extensively on the topic of marriage and family life and is the author of several highly praised books, such as The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap and Marriage, A History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage.