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Love is championed as a serious and necessary subject for philosophical consideration in this venturesome exploration of the evolution and influence of love in the West. European Studies professor and philosopher Cristaudo (Power, Love and Evil: Contribution to a Philosophy of the Damaged) presents a sprawling study of love in all its forms (though he focuses primarily on "love of wisdom. love of God. and romantic love"), recalling Plato, Christ, Dante, Marquis de Sade, and other key figures whose ideas and teachings have shaped its development in Western thought. Once Cristaudo overcomes authorial hang-ups regarding his treatment of what is oft-regarded as religious subject matter, and after a sluggish chapter on Plato, he hits his stride in a chapter entitled "The Medieval Return of Venus," wherein a powerful vision of love as a complex, evolving material force begins to emerge. While scholars and philosophy buffs are treated to a dazzling panoply of philosophies that extends well beyond that represented in the table of contents, readers less familiar with the Western canon must confront an unwieldy and at times disorderly history if they are to discover and contemplate the book's essential message: "the `ism' and `ist' ideologies of modernity. are all serving the same dead end if they do not make the world and the practitioners more lovable." (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


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