Includes index

How humans have repeatedly lost hope, and how new encounters, and a new pair of spectacles, revive them -- How men and women have slowly learned to have interesting conversations -- How people searching for their roots are only beginning to look far and deep enough -- How some people have acquired an immunity to loneliness -- How new forms of love have been invented -- Why there has been more progress in cooking than in sex -- How the desire that men feel for women, and for other men, has altered through the centuries -- How respect has become more desirable than power -- How those who want neither to give orders nor to receive them can become intermediaries -- How people have freed themselves from fear by finding new fears -- How curiosity has become the key to freedom -- Why it has become increasingly difficult to destroy one's enemies -- How the art of escaping from one's troubles has developed, but not the art of knowing where to escape to -- Why compassion has flowered even in stony ground -- Why toleration has never been enough -- Why even the privileged are often somewhat gloomy about life, even when they can have anything the consumer society offers, and even after sexual liberation -- How travellers are becoming the largest nation in the world, and how they have learned not to see only what they are looking for -- Why friendship between men and women has been so fragile -- How even astrologers resist their destiny -- Why people have not been able to find the time to lead several lives -- Why fathers and their children are changing their minds about what they want from each other -- Why the crisis in the family is only one stage in the evolution of generosity -- How people choose a way of life, and how it does not wholly satisfy them -- How humans become hospitable to each other -- What becomes possible when soul-mates meet

Zeldin studies the problems of modern society in light of demonstrating how individuals pay attention to, or ignore, the experience of previous generations and cultures. Some of his examples are how people have acquired immunity to loneliness, how older fears give rise to new fears, and why people choose a way of life and what they do when it does not wholly satisfy them