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GtrsRGr8 · 02-27-2019, 08:07 AM

Penn (Pennsylvania) State University Press currently has some 65 or so Open Access (O.A.) titles in their catalog. For the benefit of newbies to the ebook world, Open Access is (practically?) synonymous with free.

Many times, university presses, probably more than any other type of publisher, publish books that have limited appeal, for one reason or another. However, this month's featured O.A. book is about a subject with almost universal appeal--it's about love.

Being in the "Penn State Romance Studies" series, this book is Love Cures: Healing and Love Magic in Old French Romance, by Laine E. Doggett.

This might be a good place to give you the Press' description of the book:
What is love? Popular culture bombards us with notions of the intoxicating capacities of love or of beguiling women who can bewitch or heal—to the point that it is easy to believe that such images are timeless and universal. Not so, argues Laine Doggett in Love Cures. Aspects of love that are expressed in popular music—such as “love is a drug,” “sexual healing,” and “love potion number nine”—trace deep roots to Old French romance of the high Middle Ages. A young woman heals a poisoned knight. A mother prepares a love potion for a daughter who will marry a stranger in a faraway land. How can readers interpret such events? In contrast to scholars who have dismissed these women as fantasy figures or labeled them “witches,” Doggett looks at them in the light of medical and magical practices of the high Middle Ages. Love Cures argues that these practitioners, as represented in romance, have shaped modern notions of love. Love Cures seeks to engage scholars of love, marriage, and magic in disciplines as diverse as literature, history, anthropology, and philosophy.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

The free download is available in PDF only. For the benefit of those who care about such things, purchasing the Kindle mobi would set you back $33.99!

This is a good Penn State University Press webpage to find out more about the above ebook, and to "purchase" it, if you desire.

(I encourage you to look over the full list of Penn State University Press' "Unlocked" Books. They tend to be far less esoteric than the typical books from a university press. Pennsylvania has a lot of interesting history, and like most university presses, it seems, Penn State University Press' books--at least the O.A. ones--tend to be about the state (or at least the region in the state) where the university is located. Remember: all of ebooks on the above webpage are free!

02-27-2019, 08:07 AM	#1447
GtrsRGr8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,334 Karma: 27815322 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Southeastern U.S., ya'll Device: Kindle; Kindle (10.1.1) for PC; Kindle Cloud Reader	FREE Ebook about the Origin of Modern Ideas about Love in America (Hint: It's France) Penn (Pennsylvania) State University Press currently has some 65 or so Open Access (O.A.) titles in their catalog. For the benefit of newbies to the ebook world, Open Access is (practically?) synonymous with free. Many times, university presses, probably more than any other type of publisher, publish books that have limited appeal, for one reason or another. However, this month's featured O.A. book is about a subject with almost universal appeal--it's about *love. Being in the "Penn State Romance Studies" series, this book is Love Cures: Healing and Love Magic in Old French Romance, by Laine E. Doggett. This might be a good place to give you the Press' description* of the book: What is love? Popular culture bombards us with notions of the intoxicating capacities of love or of beguiling women who can bewitch or heal—to the point that it is easy to believe that such images are timeless and universal. Not so, argues Laine Doggett in Love Cures. Aspects of love that are expressed in popular music—such as “love is a drug,” “sexual healing,” and “love potion number nine”—trace deep roots to Old French romance of the high Middle Ages. A young woman heals a poisoned knight. A mother prepares a love potion for a daughter who will marry a stranger in a faraway land. How can readers interpret such events? In contrast to scholars who have dismissed these women as fantasy figures or labeled them “witches,” Doggett looks at them in the light of medical and magical practices of the high Middle Ages. Love Cures argues that these practitioners, as represented in romance, have shaped modern notions of love. Love Cures seeks to engage scholars of love, marriage, and magic in disciplines as diverse as literature, history, anthropology, and philosophy. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? The free download is available in PDF only. For the benefit of those who care about such things, purchasing the Kindle mobi would set you back $33.99! This is a good Penn State University Press webpage to find out more about the above ebook, and to "purchase" it, if you desire. (I encourage you to look over the full list of Penn State University Press' "Unlocked" Books. They tend to be far less esoteric than the typical books from a university press. Pennsylvania has a lot of interesting history, and like most university presses, it seems, Penn State University Press' books--at least the O.A. ones--tend to be about the state (or at least the region in the state) where the university is located. Remember: all of ebooks on the above webpage are free! Last edited by GtrsRGr8; 02-28-2019 at 12:43 AM.