“Let the debates begin! Drawing on an astonishing panoply of sources, from European courtly and troubadour literature to Heian Japanese poetry, from canon law to Puri temple dancing, William M. Reddy’s important new book, The Making of Romantic Love, challenges our basic assumptions about eroticism, heroism, the nature of marriages, and the legacy of the Middle Ages in modern culture. Is there a ‘sex drive’? Or is this, too, a western construct? Like one of Reddy’s ‘emotives,’ reading this impressive study will leave you a different person."

Barbara H. Rosenwein | Loyola University Chicago

"This is a magnificent book and a powerful theoretical challenge. Historians of any kind will ignore it at their peril."

American Historical Review

“Reddy’s theoretical and methodological work here is both meticulous and sophisticated (he, after all, has played no small role in articulating and honing the theoretical foundation of the historical study of emotions), and his case studies are recondite enough that only the true subspecialist might possibly identify any misstep or oversight. Reddy is, in any case, a compelling storyteller, and while scholars of emotions (and graduate students) will benefit greatly from reading just the introduction (which is packed with the latest emotions research and theory--including recent work in neuroscience), those who journey with Reddy into the emotive heart of the medieval world will not regret it.”

H-Net

“A work of breathtaking ambition. . .The intellectual payoff for the author’s prodigious intellectual labor is that he can convincingly challenge contemporary (and seemingly scientifically validated) wisdom about sexuality in the West.”

Contemporary European History