Swoon

November 19, 2012
This exhaustive study of the hows, whys, and wherefores of seductive men ranges from ancient to modern, from the sublime to the ridiculous, and from literature to real life. Bite-size tidbits from the legends of ancient Greece bump into fantasy story lines from contemporary American romance novels. In addition to her copious research, Prioleau (Seductress) interviews real-life men with reputations as successful seducers in an effort to understand their powers. There’s Michael “The King,” apparently invincible; Nick the Fireman, “a man who gives off licks of electricity” as a result of his charisma; George Reese, the conversationalist who “conjures enchantment—of a prepotent kind”; Gustin, the Darien, Conn., cab driver, who has “more female adulation at sixty-seven than he knows what to do with.” Prioleau draws endlessly on the work of experts: evolutionary psychologists, neuropsychiatrists, social anthropologists, sociolinguists, a Harlequin Romance editor, philosophers, sex researchers, the occasional personal trainer and more. She is so committed to her research that on one page alone she breathlessly cites Havelock Ellis, Ortega y Gasset, the Sumerian deity Dmuzi, Dionysus, Milan Kundera, psychologists, popular romance, David Niven, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Queen Elizabeth I. But rather than an engaging romp, the book is set at such a frantic pace as to be charmless, head-spinning, and exhausting. 12 illus. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit. (Feb).

February 15, 2013

This is the male complement to Prioleau's 2004 treatise on the history and allure of sirens, Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love. Here she debunks the myth that the stereotypical "bad boy" is the most desirable male archetype and investigates the many men (real and fictitious) throughout history who have had a way with women. With exceptional vocabulary and bright prose, Prioleau (former scholar in residence, cultural history, New York Univ.) offers a thoroughly researched, irresistible, accessible look at ladies' men. From well-known characters such as Casanova and Don Juan to contemporary and historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Albert Camus, and Jack Nicholson, who had great success as seducers, Prioleau teases out the qualities that render certain men magnetic for women. She also offers historical, scientific, and sociological perspectives, as well as interviews with today's Romeos, who reveal the sometimes unexpected secrets to their success. VERDICT A frank, fascinating look at the characteristics of historical and contemporary seducers. Lovers of social and cultural history, as well as the merely romantically curious, will enjoy it.--Elizabeth Winter, Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta

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