And now a book

A week ago today, I posted the last Marriage News Watch video by Matt Baume. Now, he’s back with his book based on his experiences in the fight for marriage equality in the USA (promotional video above).

The book, Defining Marriage: Voices from a Forty-Year Labor of Love, is available for free on Amazon for this week only, before it goes on sale.

I’ve only just started reading the book, but I can say already that it’s quite compelling. Matt has an easy-to-read, breezy style, as we saw in his videos, that almost reminds me of a friend sitting around telling you stories of what he’s seen—which is basically what the book is. I hope to post a bigger discussion of the book once I finish reading it.

According to the video, and the table of contents, I know that Matt tells the story of how we got to 50-state marriage equality, focusing on the stories some of the notable people who made it possible (some of whom we probably haven’t heard of), and also some of the lesser known stories of people who contributed, each in their own way, to the movement toward equality. He also shares his own story, which I think is an interesting dimension for a lot of reasons.

I know that e-books aren’t for everyone, but while it’s free, it’s the perfect e-book book to try. A reader does need an Amazon account, which is free, but the book itself can be read on a Kindle, of course, or by using the free Kindle App for smart phones, tablets, and desktop computers. I started reading the book on my iPad, but I’ll probably carry on using my Kindle, especially at night because it doesn’t have the light issues of electronic devices (my Kindle has no backlight and needs to be read with lamplight, just like a regular book).

I like what I’ve read so far, and I’m looking forward to learning about things I didn’t know about. While it’s free, it’s clearly a no-risk thing to do, too—unlike the tale it tells.