Barbara H. Rosenwein, Love: A History in Five Fantasies. Cambridge and Medford, MA, 2022, x, 232 pp., 15 color illus.

“A learned guide through the labyrinth of love” is how this delightful volume is signaled by the publisher. That it is, indeed, like love itself, a “richly-hued tapestry” (8). Five sections here include: “Like-minded love” – or friendship – starts us off, then comes “love’s transcendence” or love of God. “Love as freedom” vs. “obligation” – marriage and/or long-term sexual relationships follows, and then the fantasy of “true love” as “obsessive” and unrequited, and, finally, “insatiable” and “roaming” love completes the five chapters.