Where does love come in the culture and history of black people? In this book, Bell Hooks's critical insight traces the ethic of love in the context of black lives. She examines the literary debate on love and dehumanization in the work of writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and representations of love in film and television, including programmes like the Cosby Show. Hooks talks to rappers; she traces the history of love from slavery, through the words of Martin Luther King and the Black Power Movement to the present day. She considers different domestic situations, including single mothers and black gays and lesbians. She also considers the effect on the black community of the deaths of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.