What role has love played in social, political and cultural life over the centuries? How have normative values and beliefs about love affected different social groups in different cultures?

In a work spanning 2,500 years, 55 experts examine the meaning of love: what it feels like, how it should be expressed on the body and in language, its representation in art and literature, its explanation by theology and by science, and who should experience it (and towards whom). Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole and, to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six.

The six volumes cover: 1 - Antiquity (500 BCE - 400 CE); 2 - Middle Ages (400 - 1400); 3 - Early Modern Age (1400 - 1700); 4 - Age of Enlightenment (1700 - 1800); 5 - Age of Empire (1800 - 1900); 6 - Modern Age (1900 - present).

Themes (and chapter titles) are: romantic love; love in families; friendship; love in communities; love and the divine; love in politics; physiologies of love; and love in art and material culture.

The page extent is approximately 1,648 with up to 300 illustrations. Each volume opens with notes on contributors, a series preface and a volume editor's introduction, and concludes with notes, bibliography and index.

Special introductory offer (valid up to 3 months after publication): GBP395 / $550 (full price: GBP440 / $610)

The Cultural Histories Series A Cultural History of Love is part of the Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully searchable digital library, updated twice a year and available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access. . See www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com for further information or to access content.