{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.021991447770311544, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0030543677458766036, 'mean_word_length': 5.089219330855019, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Book Reviews: American Politics

economic impact on women. Although he has more fully argued his position elsewhere, his arguments in this book are only briefly presented and remain unconvincing. The single unexpected consequence of divorce reform that seems to bother Jacob most is an increased state intervention in the family. Indeed, in the final sentence of the book, he direly predicts that the new divorce laws will allow the state to "breach the privacy of an increasing number of American homes" (p. 173). Jacob's vision of state intervention seems incomplete. Under the older fault-based system of divorce, the state intruded on private lives by prohibiting divorce altogether or by forcing spouses to allege marital misconduct. Under the new laws, that pervasive coercion by the state does not exist. Moreover, Jacob does not focus on today's increased private ordering among divorcing spouses. Party autonomy, in the form of prenuptial agreements, is much more likely to be tolerated under current law than under the faultbased regimes of 20 years past. Unlike other studies of the evolution of modern family law, Jacob's analysis does not provide new insights into the economic consequences of divorce, the international context of divorce reform in Western nations, or the philosophical underpinnings of family law policy. Instead, Jacob's book contributes primarily to our knowledge of the actual political processes that led to the statutory changes governing divorce in the last two decades. As such, it is a valuable resource for political scientists interested in agenda setting and the formalization of social policy.