Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present

Lillian Faderman,

Riverdale Avenue Books , 1981

Agent: Sandra Dijkstra

A classic of its kind, this fascinating cultural history draws on everything from private correspondence to pornography to explore five hundred years of friendship and love between women. Surpassing the Love of Men throws a new light on shifting theories of female sexuality and the changing status of women over the centuries.

Reviews:
“One of the most significant contributions yet made to feminist literature.”
New York Review of Books

 
“Well-documented, fascinating, and controversial.”
San Francisco Chronicle

 
“Remarkable for its rediscovering of text and also for its study of feelings that we no longer find in our societies.”
Michael Foucalt

 
“Instructive and humane…a powerful summons to conscience.”
New York Times Book Review