Between 1994 and 1997, George Davis interviewed more than 200 people with a simple purpose in mind: find out how they felt about sex and love, not in the abstract, but as they are really experienced by a broad cross-section of African Americans. This fascinating survey of emotional lives and love affairs uncovers a surprising and powerful collection of cultural and racial factors that make up love today National radio publicity .
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Journalist Davis (English & journalism, Rutgers Univ.), a former reporter and editor for the Washington Post and the New York Times, interviewed over 200 people to elicit real stories that shed light on how African Americans feel about sex and love.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
This look at love and sexuality among African-Americans lacks neither candor nor style. Davis's (coauthor, Black Life in Corporate America, 1982; English and Journalism/Rutgers Univ.) 12 studies are all, more or less, responses to the question ``What is love?'' And while there are some upbeat moments, the tone is predominantly poignant, and many of the people whom Davis interviews are in the same state of emotional paralysis as James Joyce's characters in Dubliners. For instance, in ``Love Don't Need No Reasons,'' Davis interviews an elderly trucker who, before he recently found religion and married, lived with a young student at the university where he delivers fruit. Although the man claims that he is over the young woman, who apparently took him for his money and then left him without warning, Davis makes it clear with his questioning and accompanying commentary that it just isn't so. Other images are more stark, as in ``The `We' That Love Creates,'' wherein a young woman with a small child ends up back on her parents' doorstep after leaving her drug-addicted boyfriend. Even the final piece, an affirmative view of the Afrocentric aspect of black culture, has an odd resemblance to Joyce's ``The Dead,'' with its emphasis on the spirits of deceased ancestors and, like most of the other vignettes, its preoccupation with loves lost. Still, despite a seeming unity of pain behind Davis's collection, the range of topics covered is wide: Intraracial preoccupations with skin color, date rape, and teenage sexuality all find significant mention. Davis has deftly woven together a collection that will appear as wise to black readers as it is informative to the outsider taking a first look at African-American sexuality and relationships. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sad, But Definitely Worth Reading,
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This review is from: Love Lessons: African Americans And Sex, Romance, And Marriage In The Nineties (Paperback)
I found Love Lessons to be one of those "I've got to finish this in one sitting" sort of books. It was both fascinating and disturbing. Despite the title, very few of the people interviewed in the book seemed to have learned any lessons. The lessons they learned, if any, were negative ones.What is love? That basic question remains unanswered in the book, but we do see what a handful of African-Americans have done in the name of love. My heart went out to the young mother in one tale whose total selflessness allowed her to be exploited and ultimately end up pregnant, homeless, and sleeping on a park bench. On the flip side, I was annoyed by the tale of the wealthy young woman who openly gloated about how she "loved" the famous artist whom she was having an open relationship with, while she exploited another man who genuinely cared for her and was furthering her career. That's love? How long before she crashes and burns? Also disturbing was the tale of the wealthy man who didn't want to divorce the wife he never loved in the first place because he didn't want to possibly lose his house. So, he and his wife live in separate suites, use separate entrances, and get on each other's nerves when they ocassionally cross paths. Get a divorce already! In summary, I recommend Love Lessons to anyone curious about the state of black love. It would be interesting to find a similar book centering around how people of the majority culture describe love and contrast the two. Although I believe most African-Americans will find someone in the book who reminds them of themselves or someone they know (I have to praise the author for finding such a good cross section of people), I would caution people from outside of the culture not to draw any sweeping conclusions about African-Americans and how we love and treat each other based on this book. There are many more stories to be told.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Hard To Get Through,
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This review is from: Love Lessons: African Americans And Sex, Romance, And Marriage In The Nineties (Paperback)
I tried really hard to get through this book since it was recommended by another person on Amazon. I found that much of the conversation was spent with the author playing devil's advocate to everything the person was being interviewed saying. I also thought the author trying to define what love was by badgering them with questions which was boring. I would have like them to talk about their experiences with love without the questioning from the author.
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