Eva Illouz, Why Love Hurts. New York: Polity, 2012. $25.00. 300pp.

The argument of this book is that the modern romantic experience is shaped by a fundamental transformation in the ecology and architecture of romantic choice. The samples from which men and women choose a partner, the modes of evaluating prospective partners, the very importance of choice and autonomy and what people imagine to be the spectrum of their choices: all these aspects of choice have transformed the very core of the will, how we want a partner, the sense of worth bestowed by relationships, and the organization of desire.

Douglas Harper, Visual Sociology. London: Routledge, 2012. $43.95. 294pp.

Visual sociology has contributed in numerous ways to the documentary tradition for nearly a half century. Harper’s text provides a definitive account of the many challenges and possibilities that visual representation provides in all the social sciences. It offers a guide and guidance to a materially and theoretically rich subject.

Harvey Molotch, Against Security: How We Go Wrong at Airports, Subways, and Other Sites of Ambiguous Danger. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. $35.00. 278pp.

In the post-9/11 world, we have become focused on heightened security measures, but do you feel safer? Are you safer? Against Security explains how our anxieties about public safety have translated into command-and-control procedures that annoy, intimidate, and are often counterproductive.

Bernard Lewis, Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian. New York: Viking, 2012. $28.95. 400pp.

In this witty memoir Bernard Lewis, at the age of 96, reflects on the events that have transformed the Middle East since World War II, up through the Arab Spring. His acute perceptions are grounded in a vast knowledge that has earned him the respect of scholars across the political spectrum over more than seven decades.

Alan Ryan, The Making of Modern Liberalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. $39.50. 736pp.

The Making of Modern Liberalism is a deep and wide-ranging exploration of the origins and nature of liberalism from the Enlightenment through its triumphs and setbacks in the twentieth century and beyond. The book is the fruit of the more than four decades during which Alan Ryan, one of the world’s leading political thinkers, has reflected on the past of the liberal tradition--and worried about its future.