Anatomy of love : a natural history of mating, marriage, and why we stray

Summary: From love at first sight and infidelity to hook-up culture and "slow love", explained in this thoroughly revised classic on the evolution and future of human sex, romance, and partnership. Examines marriage and divorce in 58 societies and adultery in 42 cultures, and argues that we are returning to patterns of business, sex, and love that echo our ancient past.

Record details

ISBN: 9780393349740
Physical Description: print
xii, 450 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.
Edition: Completely revised and updated.
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 345-426) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue : Here's to love -- Games people play: courting -- Why him? why her?: the drive to love and who we choose -- Is monogamy natural?: Of human bonding ... and cheating -- Why adultery?: The nature of philandering -- Blueprint for divorce: the three- to four-year itch -- "When wild in woods the noble savage ran": life in the trees -- Out of Eden: on the origin of monogamy and desertion -- Tyranny of love: evolution of attachment and love addictions -- Dressed to impress: nature's lures for seduction -- Men and women are like two feet: they need each other to get ahead: gender differences in mind -- Women, men, and power: the nature of sexual politics -- Almost human: genesis of kinship and the teenager -- First affluent society: "that short but imperious word, 'ought'" -- Fickle passion: romance in yesteryears -- "Till death us do part": birth of sexual double standards -- Future sex: slow love and forward to the past.