The politics of dual-career academic couples, and the policies directed toward them, have been dissected and debated at length. Rarely mentioned, however, is how an academic career can be affected by a husband, wife, or significant other who is not on the professorial track. Most pairings of professor and nonprofessor work just fine. The partners maintain a division of labor and support that allows both to progress toward their individual and family goals. But in some "mixed marriages," with no malice or sabotage intended, the nonacademic partner's behavior or ideas can undermine or even cripple the scholar's career -- because of mutual ignorance and mistaken assumptions. Perlmutter offers insight into a number of assumptions, including differing views of proper "work" time, productivity, variations and gradations of promotion or advancement, and office politics. He also discusses the line between cheerleader/partisan and that of enabler for obstinacy and obtuseness, pointing out that many career wounds suffered by academics are self-inflicted; the scholar needs love and support, but also alternative scenarios to the "poor pitiful me" lament. Perlmutter concludes that many spousal-induced career problems in academe are rooted in miscommunication, that the nonprofessor is not intentionally sinking the academic's career but simply does not know how best to assist it. Perlmutter advocates that, when committing to the academic life, a scholar be candid with the nonacademic life partner and negotiate a plan that furthers the relationship as well as the career.