All about Love: Love Song to the Nation Book 1

This term describes the experience of living in the absence of genuine love. In the book’s introduction, she acknowledges that many people suffer from lovelessness and are unsure how to “end the lovelessness that is so pervasive in our society” (xxix). hooks explains throughout each chapter the various ways that lovelessness—which breeds loneliness and despair—can be challenged. By actively engaging in loving practice, readers can move away from lovelessness and embrace the pleasures of giving and receiving love.

Loving practice is a methodology through which readers can begin to pursue the love they wish to experience. hooks explains that engaging in a loving practice entails, perhaps more than anything, courage and an acute understanding and acceptance of oneself. The practice of love begins with the self; the path to self-acceptance is the path to self-love. hooks believes that people can know how to give and receive love—to engage in loving practice—only when they learn to love themselves first.

hooks is steadfast in her belief in the power of self-love. Simply put, self-love is the act of loving oneself, though the practice itself is anything but easy. hooks maintains that self-love is an essential component of loving practice; without self-love, one cannot begin to effectively give or receive love.