About Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 4, 2013)
Casanovas: where are those great romancers of women? In Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them (W. W. Norton), Betsy Prioleau gives us a smart, entertaining study of the ladies’ man, demystifying his character, seductive secrets, and killer charm. Combining history, science, culture, and colorful contemporary research, Prioleau shows us a seducer we’ve never seen before.
He explodes every stereotype and shatters every cliché. Instead of a satanic rake, slick player, or rich, handsome powerbroker, he’s an unlikely, often homely Romeo who cares about women and understands what they want.
Through analyses of history’s legendary lovers and interviews with today’s heartthrobs, Prioleau uncovers the surprising seductive secrets that really rock female hearts, from unfeigned ardor to conversational flair. Finally, Prioleau critiques the 21st–century sexual malaise, especially women’s record discontent with men, and argues that it’s high time to retrieve and celebrate the great seducer.
“I read Swoon in the hope that some its subjects would even slightly resemble me. I loved the book anyway.”—Andy Borowitz, comedian and New York Times bestselling author
“Betsy Prioleau’s vivacious prose grabs the reader, as does her marvelous wit, insight into sexual desire, and her extraordinary research. It’s a fascinating, very sexy read, especially her interviews with great lovers of today who detail why they’re so successful in their seduction of women.” –Barbara Taylor Bradford, author of Letter from a Stranger
“A fun, frothy complement to cultural historian Prioleau’s Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World. Between the numerous literary examples of famous lotharios, the author inserts plenty of real-life lady-killers and analyzes what it is about them that attracts women so avidly. . . . A merrily readable literary history/dating manual.”—Kirkus Reviews
About Betsy Prioleau
Betsy Prioleau is the author of Circle of Eros (Duke University Press) Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love (Penguin/Viking), and most recently, Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them (W. W. Norton, 2013). She has a Ph.D. in literature from Duke University, was a tenured associate professor at Manhattan College, and taught cultural history at New York University. She has written numerous essays on literature, relationships, and sexuality. She lives in New York City.
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Betsy Prioleau’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, March 4th: Scandalous Women
Tuesday, March 5th: Enchanted by Josephine
Thursday, March 7th: A Bookish Affair
Monday, March 11th: The Blog of Litwits
Tuesday, March 12th: In the Hammock
Wednesday, March 13th: Staircase Wit
Thursday, March 14th: Jenny Loves to Read
Friday, March 15th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Tuesday, March 19th: Book Addict Katie
Thursday, March 21st: Unabridged Chick
Friday, March 22nd: Books a la Mode – guest post “Heartbreakers in History that were Ugly”
Monday, March 25th: Man of La Book
Tuesday, March 26th: Literally Jen
Thursday, March 28th: Tiffany’s Bookshelf
Wednesday, April 3rd: Peppermint Ph.D.
Monday, April 8th: Dolce Bellezza