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History of the Self: Love

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NPR, December 2024

How did love–this thing that’s supposed to be beautiful, magical, transformative–turn into a neverending slog? We went searching for answers, and we found them in surprising places. On today’s show: a time-hopping, philosophical journey into the origins of modern love. (This episode first ran as Love, Throughline)

Guests:

  • Andrea Wulf, historian and author of Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of The Self
  • Moira Weigel, assistant professor at Northeastern University and author of Labor of Love: The Invention of Dating
  • Veronica Hefner, associate professor and director of the graduate studies in communication at St. Mary’s College of California

Listen at NPR.

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