The idea of love in the Western cultural tradition consists of a huge number of intertwined plots. In her monograph, leading American historian of emotions Barbara Rosenwein, emeritus professor at Loyola University Chicago, masterfully reconstructs five of the most enduring cultural fantasies about love: like-minded union, transcendental experience, selflessness, obsession, and insatiable desire. The material for her analysis is a variety of sources - from literature and art objects to private letters, memoirs and epitaphs. As the author shows, each of the fantasies had a long and interesting evolution, which influenced the general ideas about love today, and the mythologies associated with it can lead us to unexpected conclusions about why we continue to build our relationships.