What's Love Got to Do with It?: The Evolution of Human Mating

by Meredith Small

Overview

In this refreshingly down-to-earth exploration of human mating and sexuality, an acclaimed anthropologist looks at why we fall in love with the people we do. 

"A personal feminist take on the mating game." —Scientific American


An acclaimed anthropologist looks at the fascinating intersection between the imperatives of our glands and genes, and the culture in which we live. Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Is there an alternative, more feminist, way to interpret traditional human sexual biology and evolution? These are but a few of the questions that anthropologist Meredith Small explores in her compelling book on human mating, What's Love Got to Do with It?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385477024
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/01/1996
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

MEREDITH SMALL is professor emerita of anthropology at Cornell University and the author of Kids; Our Babies, Ourselves; What's Love Got to Do with It?; Female Choices; and The Culture of Our Discontent. She writes frequently for Natural History Magazine, Discover, and Scientific American, and is a commentator for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. She lives in Ithaca, New York.

Editorial Reviews

"Small joins ... such writers as Robert Ardrey, Desmond Morris, and Lionel Tiger who have sought to make evolutionary biology the foundation sexual behavior ... a refreshing rejoinder to the Darwinian boys' club." —San Francisco Chronicle

"An anthropologist's thorough, lucid, nontechnical descriptions of why we mate the way we do." —Playboy

"A personal feminist take on the mating game. [Small] adopts an intimate style [and] succeeds in conveying a flavor of what ... scientific research is all about." —Scientific American

"Lays out the fundamental wiring diagrams of human sexuality ... essential knowledge." —Bill McKibben

From the Publisher

Anthropologist Small's feminist take on human sexuality examines the intersections of love and biology. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Small (anthropology, Cornell) has been studying and writing about sexual behavior for over a decade (Female Choices: Sexual Behavior of Female Primates, LJ 5/15/93). By analyzing how monkeys and baboons mate, she has begun to untangle the mysteries and mythology of human sexuality. For example, Small has found biological evidence to explain why many humans have difficulty with monogamy. She also draws interesting conclusions about love, lust, marriage, childbearing, menstruation, homosexuality, and what men and women actually desire in a mate. Though extensively documented and indexed, Small's text is still highly readable for general audiences. Recommended for both public and academic libraries.-A. Arro Smith, San Marcos P.L., Tex.

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