About this item
Swoon is a glittering pageant of charismatic ladies' men from Casanova to Lord Byron to Camus to Ashton Kutcher. It challenges every preconceived idea about great lovers and answers one of history's most vexing questions: what do women want? Contrary to popular myth and dogma, the men who consistently beguile women belie the familiar stereotypes: satanic rake, alpha stud, slick player, Mr. Nice, or big-money mogul. As Betsy Prioleau, author of Seductress, points out in this surprising, insightful study, legendary ladies' men are a different, complex species altogether, often without looks or money. They fit no known template and possess a cache of powerful erotic secrets. With wit and erudition, Prioleau cuts through the cultural lore and reveals who these master lovers really are and the arts they practice to enswoon women.
About the Author
Betsy Prioleau is the author of the Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age (Abrams Press, March 29, 2022) , a biography of scandalous publisher, Mrs. Frank Leslie,( Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them (W. W. Norton, 2013) , Circle of Eros (Duke University Press) and Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love (Penguin/Viking) . She has a Ph.D. in literature from Duke University, was an associate professor at Manhattan College, and taught cultural history at New York University. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina and New York City. Visit her website at www.BetsyPrioleau.com.An excerpt from a review of "Swoon" by Helen Davies that was published January 26, 2014 in the U.K. Sunday Times:"Swoon doesn't conform to the dreary do-gooding of the worst of self-help literature. Instead, Prioleau offers a romp through centuries of amorous liaisons and seduction techniques ... if you are willing to be seduced into some entertaining badinage, it is worth a read."For the full text, go to: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/non_fiction/article1365656.eceAn excerpt from a review of "Swoon," June 14, 2014 in the Irish Times: "This is a deliciously sexy, erudite read that may help (if it's not too late for some of us) reveal the elusive qualities of the world's great seducers."for the full text, go to: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/swoon-great-seducers-and-why-women-love-them-by-betsy-prioleau-1.1828344
