An Intimate History of Humanity Author:Theodore Zeldin A provocative work that explores the evolution of emotions and personal relationships through diverse cultures and time. — Contents — How humans have repeatedly lost hope, and how new encounters, and a new pair of spectacles, revive them — How men and women have slowly learned to have interesting conversations — How people searching for thei... more »r roots are only beginning to look far and deep enough
How some people have acquired an immunity to loneliness
How new forms of love have been invented
Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex
How the desire that men feel for women, and for other men, has altered through the centuries
How respect has become more desirable than power
How those who want neither to give orders nor to receive them can become intermediaries
How people have freed themselves from fear by finding new fears
How curiosity has become the key to freedom
Why it has become increasingly difficult to destroy one’s enemies
How the art of escaping from one’s troubles has developed, but not the art of knowing where to escape to
Why compassion has flowered even in stony ground
Why toleration has never been enough
Why even the privileged are often somewhat gloomy about life, even when they can have anything the consumer society offers, and even after sexual liberation
How travellers are becoming the largest nation in the world, and how they have learned not to see only what they are looking for
Why friendship between men and women has been so fragile
How even astrologers resist their destiny
Why people have not been able to find the time to lead several lives
Why fathers and their children are changing their minds about what they want from each other
Why the crisis in the family is only one stage in the evolution of generosity
How people choose a way of life, and how it does not wholly satisfy them