"From the bestselling author of The Shakespeare Wars and Explaining Hitler comes a stirring manifesto on love in the modern age. From one generation to the next, our understanding of love is constantly evolving, be it courtship, sex, or romantic relationships. The science of love is advancing, too, from the study of chemicals responsible for our behavior in love to the mining of data generated using dating apps. Now, more than ever, we find ourselves asking: what is love? Is it a diffuse feeling or a quantifiable chemical reaction? What is lust? What is a chance meeting and what is fate? And why have we become so obsessed with codifying love through science? Ron Rosenbaum interrogates love's role in the public imagination over centuries to uncover its age old-and newer-secrets. Rosenbaum's research pulls from centuries of the arts and sciences as well as his own lived experience, illuminating the loves that have marked his life and the sacrifices he has made for each. He argues for the beauty and specialness of love, and for its capacity to make us kinder, wiser, and more generous. He shows us the feeling of breath being taken away and the skipping of a heartbeat. In essence, he argues for the very capacity that makes us human. A Defense of Love is more than a primer on the intersection of love with literature and science-it is a guide to a deeply noble pursuit: the power of surrendering to love"-- Provided by publisher.