Journalists like to think of themselves as writing “the first draft of history,” as the cliché goes. This is not necessarily a good approach to book-length studies of current events. In Same-Sex Marriage, authors Kathleen A. Lahey and Kevin Alderson write the book on a marriage institution that is essentially months old, and the results are predictably uneven.

The book is itself an ungainly marriage of legal history and sociology. In the first half, Lahey, who teaches law at Queen’s University and has been a lawyer in several Canadian marriage cases, gives a précis of the most important courtroom battles in the fight for gay-marriage rights. In the second, Alderson, a psychologist and University of Calgary professor, takes us from abstractions to human faces.

Lahey’s discussions of the marriage wars, especially in Canadian and U.S. courts, reflect her long experience. Deeply knowledgeable, she is also deeply frustrated about the remarkable array of political and legal obstacles faced by “the marriage movement.” Unfortunately, her passion often leads her to write glib, or vague, history. Especially in recounting European cases, Lahey occasionally presents secondhand information largely undigested. On this broad and fascinating subject, Lahey has effectively given us a 100-page monograph. The story here, which moves from U.S. miscegenation laws to radical changes in public opinion during the 1990s, calls out for a broader and more synthesized approach.

In the second part, Alderson’s stated purpose is “to give voice and image to same-sex marriage.” To that end he takes a “phenomenological” look at 16 same-sex couples, in Canada and the U.S., who are formalizing their long-term partnerships in marriage. Meeting with these pioneers, including Toronto’s Michael Leshner and Michael Stark, Alderson leads them into wonderfully candid conversation. Unfortunately, the technique of phenomenology calls for Alderson to leave the transcripts unedited, and to include personal observations of his subjects.

Such faults surely won’t prevent Same-Sex Marriage from reaching an eager readership. Still, a few months of reflection might have produced a book that would better stand up to posterity.