Description
Book Synopsis* A best-selling sociologist presents a concise and very readable history of love * Kaufmann focuses on the question of why so many people are searching for love, hoping to find in love a kind of happiness that they cannot find in their work or by surrounding themselves with material goods.
Trade Review"As a commentary on the Western construction of love, the politics of love in Western society, and an analysis of modern romantic love, Kaufmann’s book has considerable value to anthropology. Plus, it is written in a jocular tone, making it amusing to read even as it opens some vistas on a taken-for-granted Western experience."
Anthropology Review Database "As sociologists have discovered the centrality of emotions as organizers of social life, Jean-Claude Kaufmann has emerged as the most insightful student of how romantic life is shaped through 'sentimental education.' In
The Curious History of Love, Kaufmann succeeds in demonstrating that love has been shaped through historical contingencies and contemporary expectations. Focusing on how women experience this most curious sensation - the tingly experience that we call love - Kaufmann draws from history and from personal stories to produce a lively and astute analysis that speaks to the emotional economy as a source of joy and pain."
Gary Alan Fine, Northwestern University
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Where Does Love Come From?
2. At The Crossroads
3. Love's Revolutionaries
4. Enter The Happy Couple
5. In Search of Happiness
Conclusion
A Note on Methodology
References
