Source Evaluation on Gay Marriage - Book Report/Review Example

Source Evaluation on Gay Marriage Indeed much has been said about gay marriage with opposing and proposing parties working tirelessly to prove why they are for or against gay marriage. Naturally, love is meant to connect two people together in the form of marriage, but what happens when there is love, but not no marriage? Love would be meaningless in this case. Similarly, imagine having a relationship without the possibility of getting married, it would be pointless. Every individual has a right to marry a person of their liking to regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, among other social forces. The book Gay Marriage: Why It is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America by Jonathan Rauch presents helpful information ion why gay marriage is beneficial both to the straights, the gays, as well as the entire American community. Though this source provides valuable information, I need to evaluate it in order to establish the credibility of the information in this source; and thus, its usability in my research. Starting with author’s credentials, Rauch is a long-term gay, which means that he provides first account information on gay life, as well as its benefits to the society. In addition, Rauch is an activist and journalist who has worked for several publications since his graduation from Yale University. Currently, Rauch works at The Atlantic and National Journal as a contributing editor. In addition, he is a guest scholar in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute. All these gives the author both educational and professional credibility, thus, making the information he provides in the source credible. Furthermore, Rauch has published several articles and books on culture, economics and public policy. His publications include Denial: My 25 years without a Soul, Beyond Queer: Challenging Gay Left Orthodoxy, and Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought. This gives him a wide knowledge on the issues affecting the society such as gay marriage. Finally, as the vice president of independent Gay Forum, and activists of human rights issues, Rauch has vast knowledge and experience on societal issues. This source offers appropriate focus as in my research, I intend to look at gay marriages how the society looks at the issue of gay marriages. As a form of marriage, I will also look at how the marriage is performed what the partners stand to gain when they are in such kind of union as compared to those partners who are in the opposite sex relationship. Marriage is a union between two people. People should care for one another, and be there for one another always in times of problem and when the other person requires moral and emotional support. In his explanation for gay marriage, Rauch says that a gay marriage is just a marriage like any other marriage because, because it is a union between two people. According to him, the essence of marriage is to know that, out there, someone exists who always has your interests at heart. Marriage according to him means that you should always be there for one another. Therefore, the source gives appropriate focus because, in my research, the intention was to study gay marriages and find out whether Rauch has the same ideologies as the ones I had on the matter. This source has sufficient coverage on the topic of gay marriage. Rauch begins by explaining what marriage is, and in explaining this, he breaks his topic into several subtopics. He covers the essence of marriage in a religious perspective, private perspective, social perspective and public perspective. He later comes to a conclusion and in all this the main reason for a marriage union is commitment to one another and according to this source; commitment is possible in both the gays and the straights. Rauch who is the author of the source finally gives his view on what he feels about the gay marriages and their rights in the society and yet they all fulfill the essence of marriage. From the general overview of the source, it is evident that the topic on gay marriage is sufficiently covered. In the source evaluation, it is important to consider the publisher of our source. In order to determine whether, the material used in the research is relevant and whether the publisher can be trusted to produce good wok. The book Gay Marriage: Why It is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America by Jonathan Rauch was published by the Times Book publisher, a company licensed to Holt Henry and previously owned by the New York Times. The Times book publisher began in 1969 as a book company of the New York Times when New York Times purchased a small publishing book company known as Quadrangle Books. The founder of Quadrangle Books was Melvin J. Bricks. The New York Times ran the company entirely but later the name of the publishing arm changed in 1977 from Quadrangle books to Times Book. The publishing company has gone through very many changes since 1977 until 2000 when the company was later relicensed as Henry Holt’s imprint. The Times Book publishers headquarter is in New York City and its website is times.aspx/us.macmillan.com. The company together with the New York Times has received 95 Pulitzer awards. The Times Book Publisher have won international awards in the Writers Trust of Canada Awards Finalist, National Book Awards and other awards such as Honor from the Helen Bernstein Book Award-Nominee. The publisher is a renowned publisher, which publishes books in different subjects including Personal Finance, Industries and Profession, Biography and History, Organizational Behavior, Economics, Arts and Photography, History Science and many others. From the information obtained from the publisher it is evident that the source originates from a reputable publisher. The book, Gay Marriage: Why it is good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America by Jonathan Rauch was published in April 2004. It tackles the present issues affecting the society. Therefore, I think I will not be wrong if I say that; the book is not ahead of its time but rather it is more appropriate at this time more especially, in this era when there are many debates on gay marriages and how to legalize it as the other forms of marriage. Finally, in looking at the source I would like to consider how well the author of the source has connected his information with that of other authors. In this case, Jonathan Rauch argues that the gay marriage is a moral thing and the government should grant the gays their rights of marriage just as the straights. In advocating for this rights, he echoes David Brooks and Andrew Sullivan’s argument where they say that, marriage is singly the reform that can save the gays from their unfulfilling lifestyle of sex and love that same sex marriages face. From this, it is evident that the author has used other supplementary materials and hence making his work credible In evaluating the source, it is important that we look at the writing style that the author used in presenting his work. In his book, Rauch has used clear and understandable language. He puts forward clear and concise arguments. The language used is easily understandable, and he illustrates his points well for the reader to understand. For example in (page 8) the language used is easy to understand where the author addresses his non audience, he says, “There are some people who believe that the act of homosexuality is wrong” (p.8). While others do not believe that homosexuality, exists. Therefore, it was the work of the law to disadvantage and to stigmatize the homosexuals.” Evidently, the book is a credible source to use in the research about gay marriage. The topic on gay marriage is covered intensively in this source, and it gives an appropriate focus on the topic. The source is a material that is recently published dealing with current issues and from a well-established publisher. The author is educated and the he is a well-known author hence making the source credible and a perfect source to use in my research. Work cited Rauch, Jonathan. A review of gay marriage : why it is Good for Gays, Good for Straights ,Good for America. New York City: Times Book, 2004. Print. Read More