THE BACHELOR-SPINSTER MYTH:
WHAT SINGLE LIVES REVEAL ABOUT SOCIETY
Romain Huret
La Découverte, 324 pages, 2026
Why you should look at it:
√ A meticulous research and sensitive portrayal of a historically overlooked demographics
√ A fascinating essay that exposes the harsh reality of social assignment and discrimination
√ A book that invites readers to rethink the place of single people in society
There is no shortage of derogatory labels for the unmarried. From “old maids” to “confirmed bachelors,” single people have long been seen as outsiders. By analyzing the social, economic, and sociological conditions of single people in the United States from the end of the ninetieth century throughout the twentieth-century, historian Romain Huret offers a different perspective: being single is a social status that highlights significant social transformations, inequalities, and tensions running through American democracy caught between the pursuit of independence and the weakening of collective bonds.
Based on more than ten years of research, Huret paints a portrait of a society deeply anchored in marriage while simultaneously giving rise to new family configurations. The work uses intimate archives and photographs to rehabilitate the lives of those who lived outside traditional marriage, highlighting the tax, social, and professional discrimination they face while simultaneously showing their vital, often invisible, role as caregivers and social activists.
In their own way, without knowing or always wanting to, single people have paved the way for contemporary changes in couples, families, and parenthood. Yet, as Huret concludes, the institution of marriage still stands firm. In the twentieth-first century, beyond considerations of contemporary loneliness, changes in the marriage market, and new ways of meeting people, the question of celibacy remains inextricably linked to a reflection on inequalities—of resources, power, choice, and recognition.
Romain Huret is professor of American history at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. He is author of numerous books, including The Experts' War on Poverty (Cornell University Press, 2018) and American Tax Resisters (Harvard University Press, 2014). More recently, he published Les Millions de monsieur Mellon (La Découverte, 2023) and co-edited Capitalism Contested: The New Deal and Its Legacies (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). He is also the author of the documentaries Climat, une guerre américaine (2021) and L’Évangile de la richesse (2023).