Civil Wars

In the years since Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, the issue has grown from an item for state legislature agendas to one for national debate. But David Moats tells the intimate story behind the larger public battle. In an account of unstoppable narrative power, he introduces the couples who filed the suit; the lawyers who spent years championing the case; and the one openly gay legislator in Vermont who ensured victory with an impassioned, deeply personal speech delivered to the House at a crucial moment. And in a new afterword, Moats brings the story fully up to date by detailing the latest developments in the gay-marriage debate.Civil Wars is a remarkable drama of democracy at work on a human scale-and a critical guidebook for anyone interested in the struggle yet to come.

David Moats is the editorial page editor of the Rutland Herald, where he won that paper's first Pulitzer Prize for his series of editorials in support of same-sex unions. His articles have appeared in the New York Times and the Wash-ington Post. He lives in Middlebury, Vermont.