Is the wife an endangered species? -- Wives in the ancient world: Biblical, Greek, and Roman models -- Wives in Medieval Europe, 1100-1500 -- Protestant wives in Germany, England, and America, 1500-1700 -- Republican wives in America and France -- Victorian wives on both sides of the Atlantic -- Victorian wives on the American frontier -- The woman question and the new woman -- Sex, contraception, and abortion in the United States, 1840-1940 -- Wives, war, and work, 1940-1950 -- Toward the new wife, 1950-2000.