Fighting for Your Marriage: Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Preserving Lasting Love (Jossey Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series) [Hardcover]

Howard J. Markman (Author), Scott M. Stanley (Author), Susan L. Blumberg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jossey Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series | Publication Date: August 23, 1994

Conflict in intimate relationships is as normal and essential as love. How you fight and resolve conflicts determines the difference between a sustained healthy and satisfying marriage or endless pain, frustration, and often divorce. At a time when families are falling apart at alarming rates and with enormous social cost, this book provides a research-based program to prevent relationship breakdown. The new audiotape set provides the key to the communication skills of PREPTM.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The authors provide an encyclopedia-like wealth of information, from escaping destructive patterns to controlling conflict to playing together." (Library Journal, May 15, 2010) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"A divorce prevention society should be formed to place a copy of this book in every hotel room in Niagara Falls-scratch that, every hotel room in this country. Every wife or husband struggling to say married, especially happily married, should read this book." — Maggie Gallagher, coauthor, The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, & Better Off Financially

"I love this book! If you want to be happily, successfully married, buy it, master it, and it's all you'll every need. While you're at it, buy a copy for every couple you love. You won't need one for your kids, they'll learn by watching you." — Diane Sollee, founder and director, Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 358 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (August 23, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555427006
• ISBN-13: 978-1555427009
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #521,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

215 of 219 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book saved our marriage!, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fighting for Your Marriage: Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Preserving Lasting Love (Paperback)

My husband and I married in our mid thirties thinking we had a lock on good communication skills and knowing we were mature enough to really make this marriage work. Nonetheless, it wasn't long before we were "mired in muck". When a small conflict arose, we found ourselves so caught up in being right and fighting our point to the death that small events escalated into huge issues. We could feel the good things in our relationship slipping away and felt helpless to fix the problem. (This was AFTER reading probably 20 different books on marriage, doing the Barbara D'Angelis program, the Gary Smally Program, attending several couples workshops, etc.). Contemplating calling it quits on our marriage, I happened accross this book, loved it, then went to a PREP workshop. Our marriage is AWESOME. We actually know how to hear and be heard and have the skills to RESOLVE the conflicts. (By the way, note the "I". My spouse hasn't read the book and refused to go to the workshop.) I learned the skills and used them in our marriage and our relationship changed. It even works with kids, in-laws, co-workers.... Yippee!

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most helpful book for our marriage ever, December 14, 2005

By 

Georgia Peach - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fighting for Your Marriage: Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Preserving Lasting Love (Paperback)

This book is wonderful! My husband and I have read many marriage books throughout our 19 year marriage, and this one (read when we had been married for 13 years) made the biggest difference in our marriage. Though we thought we had become good at communicating, this book brought us to a whole new level. With the speaker-listener technique, the "speaker" feels such comfort in knowing that the other person has truly heard what he or she is trying to communicate. This is achieved by having the "listener" repeat back what the "speaker" has said without any judgement or defensiveness (this is key). The listener can find comfort in knowing that THEIR turn will come next, when they can then express their thoughts and feelings and even respond to the other person's original comments. There are certain "below the belt" comments that are prohibited, which lend a feeling of safety, so that one is not afraid to bring up volatile subjects. Often, before we read this book, I felt I had three choices if I was unhappy with something in our marriage. I could say nothing and put up with up it (bad choice #1.) I could talk to him about it as nicely as I could think of, but he was often defensive and would become angry and not open up and truly listen to what I was saying (bad choice #2.) Or, I could talk to him about it as nicely as I could think of, and he would see how his actions were hurtful and cry but not truly have understood enough to make much of a change in the future (bad choice #3.) This just made me sad and feel guilty and didn't change much about the situation. So, by implementing the ideas in this book, and adding a "Please do not get sad and cry" rule, it was as if a barrier on certain issues was FINALLY passed. If I could, I would buy this book for every married couple I know, those having trouble AND those who just want to enhance their already stable marriage.

84 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Material, Presentation Lacking, February 14, 2005

By 

Neil Gibson "rlstjs" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fighting for Your Marriage: Positive Steps for Preventing Divorce and Preserving a Lasting Love (Paperback)

I give this book a "5" on content, and a "2" in presentation. It is just too dense - - too hard to read. Couples in crisis don't need to know how to build the watch - they need to know the time.

So, in the interest of time, get a book by the same author, "12 Hours to a Great Marriage." It takes all this hard to digest theory and makes it workable. THEN, you can go back and read this theory after you've applied the good concepts.