Sunday, July 28, 2019

All About Love


All About Love
by bell hooks

What a great book to read to reflect on a most important emotion… LOVE.  bell hooks, a popular feminist writer, is the author of this classic, All About Love.  The book focuses on the year 2000 (when it was published).  hooks presents ideas about love in modern society by drawing from her own personal experiences.  She shares the dysfunction within her own family experience as well as definitions that are helpful in understanding her perspectives.  She also incorporates some of the actions of public figures (not always good), including from our president at the time, Bill Clinton, and his extramarital involvement with Monica Lewinsky.  hooks takes the complex concept of ‘love’ from a non-sexual point of view to dive deep into the concept.  The book contains thirteen short essays on aspects of love including: the clarity of love (defining it); the justice of love (childhood lessons); the honesty of love; what commitment means for love; the spirituality of love; the values of love; how greed interferes with love; loving in community; mutuality; the importance of romance in love; loving life and death; redemptive love; and when angels speak of love.  The book is beautifully written with simple concepts on how to live a life that attracts love.  The foundational values for creating love within all of one’s relationships are outlined in a non-judgmental but assertive manner.   I have always enjoyed hooks’ work, highly recommend.  What we need today in this world is more love, which is something that should be stressed more in college coursework.  I’d suggest it as a common read for college students!

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