"Pucker up, because kisses are important. And they're often about far more than just passion. According to love historian Professor Katie Barclay, we kiss fewer people - and less often - than we used to. But kissing has been going on since time immemorial. And it’s immortalised in everything from religious iconography to art and the movies.”" - <b><i>The Sunday Post, Scotland</i></b><br />"We know that the kiss is not universal, that it has acquired and lost different functions over time, but Katie Barclay has gone deep to produce a thrilling cultural archaeology of this most intimate human act. A wonderful book. Mwah! Mwah!" - <b><i>Matthew Sweet, broadcaster and author</i></b><br />"Whether passionate, dutiful, spiritual or political, kissing has long been part of the human experience. In <i>The Kiss, </i>Katie Barclay illuminates the rich history and changing meanings of kissing over the past thousand years. This is a curious and endlessly surprising cultural history." - <b><i>Michelle Arrow, former President of the Australian Historical Association</i></b><br />"This is an impressive piece of work as well as an enjoyable read. In tracing a major form of human expression from the Middle Ages to the later 20th century, Katie Barclay combines this ambitious range with persuasive analysis." - <b><i>Peter N. Stearns, author of Shame: A Brief History</i></b><br />"From the medieval Annunciation to the #metoo movement, this insightful account tracks the history of the kiss as sacred and sensual, romantic and political, intimate gesture and public spectacle. Marshalling a huge range of material, including literature, art, letters, film and science, Barclay presents a compelling history of how the dynamics and transformative power of the kiss have changed. This lucid book exposes the deep roots of how we understand and experience the kiss today." - <b><i>Karen Harvey, author of The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder: Mary Toft and Eighteenth-Century England</i></b><br />