Cristina Nehring's academic yet passionate approach to the topic of "love" and "passion" adds a perspective seemingly having been lost in our more efficiency-oriented society. She successfully recaptures, or at least provides a strong polemic arguing for, the resuscitation of that most human about us that may not so neatly "fit" the more orderly, at times rigid and overly controlling boxes into which we attempt to contain matters of passion and the heart. Bravo for Nehring's cutting through to what would feel far more vibrant and alive within us.

All for Love

This wonderfully learned, wonderfully exuberant defense of love looks simultaneously at how we live in the contemporary world and how great lovers have behaved in the past. Sadly, for all our freedom of choice and opportunity, we moderns finish a distant second (or fourth, or fifth) place. Taking on the received wisdom of the decades following the sexual and feminist revolutions of the 60s, Nehring draws from her deep reading of the classics to argue for the qualities usually seen as threats to a desirable relationship: inequality, transgression, long distance, aggression, among others. Although all this stuff mother warned you about can easily turn a couple into wrecks like Sid and Nancy rather than the idealized lovers Nehring lingers on, we forget at our peril how human nature craves risk and obstacle to confront and overcome.

In its humanity and range of reference--Nehring is equally at home among the writers of antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the modern periods--this book reminds me of Ocavio Paz's splendid The Double Flame: Love and Eroticism, on the same subject. But where Paz's book reflects on love after a long lifetime of experience, Nehring's plunges in with the spirit of youth and an appetite for more life, more experience. Although one does occasionally wish for a more vigilant editor--figures such as "the famous French novelist of the nineteenth century, Stendhal" and "the Greek philosopher, Plato" stumble into the book before finding surer footing in Nehring's larger arguments--the author's deep, personal engagement with her material makes this volume a compelling read.

This book offers some very compelling arguements about love throughout the ages and is a great academic source to find out what to read if you want to know more about great love affairs.

I couldn't put down this book. It was like reading some of my own thoughts about love, friendship and romance beatifully expressed and deeply developed.
The only downside of the book has nothing to do with the author but with the edition I've got, the border of the pages is not neatly cut, aggg! Why do they keep on doing that?

One of the more frustrating books I've read in awhile; yet I managed to devour it in 2 sittings. Go figure. Nehring selects noteworthy examples of couples and partners from history to slam home some insights about the importance of Romance in our lives. Much of this is hard to digest, probably due to my cynicism tied to our general inability to accurately access the contributions (or lack thereof) of historical figures from even a distance of years, let alone centuries.

I'm now pouring over a book of love letters from Simone De Beuvoir to Nelson Algren, trying to salvage my shattered image of this feminist icon. Yes, Nehring has some decent retorts to anyone looking throw cold water on someone like De Beuvoir. But it's still difficult reconstructing an image. Nehring draws some grand conclusions, separated into organized thematic packages. Some of it actually sticks. But more importantly, Nehring boldly burns some sacred totems of our contemporary Feminist agenda, and stakes out an intriguing case for embracing new levels of risk and potential mayhem in relationships. Most importantly, I suspect, her book made me think, which is always worth the price of admission.

Consistent with one of Ms. Nehring's underlying themes, my two star assessment is more of an attempt to keep the fires burning under this writer, than to render a judgment of her skills. May my risk-taking in under-shooting her abilities be the tonic that sets her free to surprise us (and her) with her next book...

William J. Gianopulos
Thessaloniki, Greece