Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them

by Betsy Prioleau

"Lose Swoon has wicked fun answering that age-old What do women want?"—Chicago Tribune

Contrary to popular myth and dogma, the men who consistently beguile women belie the familiar satanic rake, alpha stud, slick player, Mr. Nice, or big-money mogul. As Betsy Prioleau, author of Seductress, points out in this surprising, insightful study, legendary ladies’ men are a different, complex species altogether, often without looks or money. They fit no known template and possess a cache of powerful erotic secrets.With wit and erudition, Prioleau cuts through the cultural lore and reveals who these master lovers really are and the arts they practice to enswoon women. What she discovers is revolutionary. Using evidence from science, popular culture, fiction, anthropology, and history, and from interviews with colorful real-world ladykillers, Prioleau finds that great seducers share a constellation of unusual traits.

While these men run the gamut, they radiate joie de vivre, intensity, and sex appeal; above all, they adore women. They listen, praise, amuse, and delight, and they know their way around the bedroom. And they’ve finessed the hardest locking in and revving desire. Women never tire of these fascinators and often, like Casanova’s conquests, remain besotted for life.

Finally, Prioleau takes stock of the contemporary culture and where are the Casanovas of today? After a critique of the twenty-first-century sexual malaise—the gulf between the sexes and women’s record discontent—she compellingly argues that society needs ladies’ men more than ever. Groundbreaking and provocative, Swoon is underpinned with sharp analysis, brilliant research, and served up with seductive verve.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, History, Romance, Biography, Relationships, Sexuality

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 4, 2013

About the author

Betsy Prioleau is the author of Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age (Abrams Press, 2022), Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them (W. W. Norton, 2013), Circle of Eros (Duke University Press), and Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love (Penguin/Viking). She has a Ph.D. in literature from Duke University, was an associate professor at Manhattan College, and taught cultural history at New York University. She lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Emma Sea]

Nice reviewer-shaming from this author.

[Kate Woods Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sociobabble that shores up the most outdated, 1950s thinking I've seen in quite some time, seasoned with ostentatious use of untranslated French and more than a few summaries of romance novels. The conclusion is a particularly ridiculous bit of feminist backlash.

This book reads like someone took the lessons from Red Flags of Love Fraud: 10 Signs You're Dating a Sociopath and turned them on their head.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swoon: Great Seduc­ers and Why Women Love Them by Betsy Pri­oleau is a non-fiction book which tries to ana­lyze what makes a ladies’ man. The book makes an inter­est­ing read and I only wish I would have read it when I was sin­gle and still look­ing for a mate for life.

The book has bad news for us guys – being a ladies’ man can­not be learned, one has to be born with “it”. The author found out that there is no tem­plate for being a Casanova, it’s nei­ther money nor atti­tude but com­plex, and some­times dis­tinct, personalities.

Ms. Pri­oleau ana­lyzes the great lovers of our time and from ages long ago from Casanova to Ash­ton Kutcher and those who aren’t famous but get the ladies, the schmos down the street which we all scratch our bald pates in amaze­ment when­ever they get the girl (a notable excep­tion is myself – just to think I was sit­ting by the phone for hours and days wait­ing to be interviewed).

The book is divided into sec­tion about Charisma, the char­ac­ters, the mind, senses and more. The author pro­vides exam­ples from his­tory, fic­tional and non-fictional peo­ple as well as famous and the not-so-famous as they per­tain to each sec­tion and/or sub­sec­tion (some swoon­ers are in more then one place).

It was inter­est­ing to read how wrong the ideal “ladies man” is in the eye of soci­ety, this won­der­fully researched book shows that they are not hand­some mil­lion­aires but those who have many other qual­i­ties (beauty is not one of them), the main one being joie de vivre – a love of life, and those man sim­ply put women up on a pedestal.

While I did enjoy the non-fiction part of the book, I didn’t care for the exam­ples of men from romance nov­els. While I do appre­ci­ate fic­tion of any genre I felt that a woman writ­ing about an ideal man (which might exist – but prob­a­bly not) didn’t really teach me anything.

Swoon is an enjoy­able book with much to teach the men of the world about women. While the bad news is that one has to be born a ladies’ man, the good news is that we can all learn to become better.

For more reviews and bookish thoughts please visit: http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could've been a long article on some woman's mag - nothing earth-shattering, some fun anecdotes about types of ladies' men/Cassanova's & some interesting stats/studies on human sexuality. As with many light-weight non-fiction books - padded for the publisher, pedestrain writing and a skim-through read not worth my slogging through word for word.

[Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outline to help capture the valuable info:

Part One: Anatomy of the Great Seducers:

A. Charisma
1. Elan: Joie de vivre
2. Intensity: passion
3. Sex Drive: he’s got a strong one—
4. Love of Women
5. Androgny—i.e. a man in touch with his inner female
6. Creativity--“Professional artists and poets, studies report, ‘have more sex appeal than other people and twice as many sexual partners.”
7. Quicksilver Man—they flout authority and live on their own terms. “Many psychologists contend that superior personhood demands psychic elbow room and a defiance of established norms.”
8. Flawed Manhood—flaws “encourage approachability and generate instant glamour.”

B. Character
1. Morality/Virture—“Good moral character is sexually attractive and romantically inspiring.”
2. Courage—includes psychological courage e.g. against censorship, unfairness etc.
3. Spiritual cultivation—
4. Knowledge/Intelligence—
5. Social IQ—Gets along well with others and in social situations
6. Pleasure—wants/and can sense what to do, to make a woman happy.
7. Self-Realization—self actualized; knows who he is and is comfortable with who he is.
8. Character in a new key—be a lovable man.

Part Two: The Seducer’s Way:

A. Lassoing Love: The Senses
1. Appearance
2. The Body Beautiful
3. Fashion and Grooming—they notice and appreciate scent.
4. Setting—“Location, location, location.”—why the cute house can be an attractor.
5. Music—in Jon’s house, radio always on and usually on the classical station. Also, “the male voice in song can be as seductive as an orchestra in full Wagnerian flight”—e.g. Il Divo and the Irish Tenors, Josh Groban.
6. Body Language and Dance
7. Sexpertise—as the Kama Sutra admits, “no instruction will be needed by those properly in love.”
8. Gifts and Wallets—including the edible gift. But remember: “The economic motive, psychiatrists explain, is the antithesis of Eros, passion displaced into ‘non-human’ rationality and calculation. That’s why Freud said: ‘wealth brings so little happiness.’” And: “the luxury rush…wears off quickly as the ‘hedonistic treadmill,’ the tendency for material upgrades to wane over time, takes hold.”

B. Lassoing Love: The Mind
1. The Royal Rush—woman may need “displays of avid desire for peak efficiency.”
2. The Wine of Praise
3. Soul Meld/Intimacy—“’The desire for intimacy…propels the story line of soap operas.’” But remember: “Vibrant, sexy intimacy maintains the tension between attachment and separation, togetherness and privacy, and preserves self-differentiation.” Also, with Carl Jung: “the story of his life was that of his inner experiences.”

C. Locking in Love
1. Conversation—many women yearn, as Maureen Dowd says, “to be in a relationship with a guy they can seriously talk to.” “Great communicators fantail empathy, humor, brains, psychological health, and social aptitude and suborn women away from the mute studs.” But not “solo flights of glittering oratory” rather “a dialogue that resembles a complex, erotic pas de deux.”
2. Unspoken Eloquence: Gesture, Voice, Listening
3. Conversational Balm—talk in the slow groove. Soothing words when needed.
4. Laughter
5. Mental Intercourse
6. The Poetry Potion

D. Touching Up Love
1. Fun/Festivity
2. Novelty/Curiosity—keep it new or its through
3. Cut and Thrust—Love is a refined and delicate form of combat
4. Inexhaustible Self hood—when self improvement stops, love stops. Also, women want: “Someone who will enlarge our world, expand life’s possibilities, and make us more than the sum of our parts.”

E. The Great Seducer Now
1. The [Present] Romantic Landscape—Gone are the old rituals and rules. “But a hyper sexualized culture hasn’t put us in the mood for love either.” According to commentators including Dowd: “The sixties’ sexual optimism …has curdled into bitterness and disillusion, and ushered in an age of irony and discontent, and lukewarm, melancholy marriages.”
2. Estranged Men
3. Estranged Women
4. Imagining a Neo–Ladies’ Man—“In a University of Louisville survey, three-fourths of women would choose a teacher with short workdays over a surgeon with eight times his salary.”
5. A Neo-Ladies Man: The Reality—Recent research: High amorous aspirations leads to higher quality relationships.
6. Selling Men on the Ladies’ Man—
7. The Making of a Ladies’ Man—
8. The Making of a Neo-Ladies’ Man—Begin with men who love women and are not afraid to change for the better; remove biases, misinformation and prejudice (e.g. the ladies-man type has generally been scorned by other men.) But no matter the lessons, you still need “that whoosh of charisma” which can’t be taught. So the best way: show men the path but let them find their own way down it.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Throughout the ages, there have been many infamous seducers. No matter what point in history you talk about, there have always been infamous ladies' men. One look and they seemingly are able to have just about any woman they want. Prioleau looks at this phenomena and uses this book as a way to try to shed some light on what makes these gentleman so irresistible.

This book was definitely interesting. It was great look at what these men do to drive women wild. Unfortunately for men who are hoping to get some tips, the secrets to being a great seducer seem somewhat unattainable without a lot of practice or a healthy dose of natural skill.

I really liked how the book was divided into different segments. Prioleau uses each segment to explore a different characteristic that could add to the success of the great seducer. He should be a good talker, a good listener, and have a litany of other characteristics in order to be a good seducer. It was really fascinating to see how Prioleau broke it down.

Prioleau uses some really interesting examples. To me, some went over better than others. I was especially interested in some of the examples of famous casanovas. Prioleau also uses a lot of examples from romance novels, some of which I was not familiar with. There is not a whole lot of explanation behind the examples and therefore they were hard to understand or to see the point behind them.

Overall: This an interesting sort of cultural anthropology book!

[Sam]

Noped after the first chapter; I'm pretty sure my face was a combination of confused and disgusted for the small part of the book I did read. The arguments in the introduction that "real" ladies men are completely different from the stereotypical "bad" seducer were extremely flawed. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but rather than showing how the stereotypes started and individual who seem to fit them but don't, she would use an individual who doesn't seem to fit that particular stereotype at all to prove it wrong. Even if that individual fit some of the other stereotypes.

I also felt like she was heaping praise on the men even when they were unfaithful, had anger management issues or emotionally abusive to the women in their life. She claims that they all made their partners happy even as she talks about the women being wildly jealous or desperately wanting to marry a man who never will.

Any maybe it's just the ace in me talking, but I was still left wondering why any of the men she mentioned were attractive to women.

[Gene Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp through history and romance novels, overflowing with SAT words, albeit colorful ones. I was 57% of the way through the Kindle edition when the book ended abruptly. The remaining 43% of the text is mostly notes and bibliography. It appears the author has done her homework.

[Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating historical overview of the great lovers in history. Spanning poets, fighters, romance novel heroes, and more.

[Lucy Bertoldi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some Men just Know what it takes...

There’s nothing simplistic about the female brain, body and soul- intricately divine and sublimely refined, it really does take a grand master in love to figure out what makes us Venuses…Swoon!

Betsy Prioleau presents us with the great seducers of all times to figure out what it is that makes some men really ‘get’ what women want. From the very beginning, even the Greek gods, moved heaven and earth for love. But by far, the grandest of all lovers in history was Giacomo Casanova. The perfect ladies’ man, Casanova captured women’s minds, their heart, their fantasies and ultimately their soul. He was genuinely interested and completely devoted to pleasing women- he understood what they needed and wanted. (Scroll down to Read Betsy's guest post on Casanova!)

Betsy Prioleau’s research brings us closer to the men in history and their captivating ways. The men she describes (tons of historical figures, which include Voltaire, Gabriele D’Annunzio, the 18th c. duc de Richelieu, to name a few- and the modern ones as well- Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger and Woody Allen too!)-all of them devoted to being ladies’ men.

SWOON grabs you from the very beginning. It’s everything you want to know about the great lovers in history. Definitely a sexy read, Swoon will have you admitting that yes! this really is what women want- from way back, and that there really is a recipe for love. It leads you to the realization that some things will never really change when it comes to love from a woman’s point of view. Women need and crave to be loved to the most heightened of their senses- passionately, completely yes, but a true lover knows that he’ll have to get through her mind first (but not solely)- Betsy Prioleau has a chapter on that. It’s called, Mental Intercourse…hmmm

The writing is of superb and impeccable taste. Prioleau takes us through the history of love in flowing chapters that reveal what women already know and what the most intuitive men are fortunate enough to unravel. SWOON is filled with these great seducers who have mastered their art and understood the cue by becoming completely enthralled with love for their lady, their muse.

I particularly enjoyed how the author takes the art of love and the historical seducers through an almost scientifc analysis- but the stuff she writes is incredibly interesting! There is nothing dry about this book- a definite page turner that will keep the facts coming as you're kept in attention by the quick pace and sharp clever writing (...guarantees a glued smile on your face;)

Brilliantly researched, witty and deliciously sexy, SWOON is recommended to all aspiring seducers and the lucky women who will undoubtedly and most willingly swoon into their bliss.

5 Star -Exquisite!

[Joseph Pfeffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Betsy Prioleau has something new, perhaps revolutionary, to say. Her only problem is she says it over and over with small variation throughout much of Swoon. Prioleau is an adocate of something she calls The Ladies Man, old-fashioned seducers like Casanova, Liszt, D'Annunzio, Aldous Huxley and a handful of others. These are men with charisma and something more. Their magical secret is that they genuinely love women and cherish them without reservation. Their only problem is they rarely, if ever, love just one woman; it's against their nature. They are serial lovers. Prioleau isn't exactly advocating promiscuity, serial or otherwise, but she is not a great fan of fidelity either. Therein lies the book's tension, one that Prioleau does little to dispel. This may be just as well. It allows her to describe her seducers in all their glory without worrying too much about whether they are, in the long run, good or bad for women. On the other hand, there's no doubt that, if it comes down to a choice between serial charmers and boring husbands, Prioleau goes with the former. She cites many wives and mistresses of great seducers who not only put up with their infidelity, but facilitated their lovers' dalliances with other women - sometimes many other women. Prioleau has no use for earnest marital communication coaches like John Gottman, or Pickup gurus like Neil Strauss. What these two opposites have in common is that both reduce lovemaking to such arduous work it doesn't seem worth the trouble. Prioleau is closer to the writers of "He's Just Not That Into You" (the book, not the movie) and, oddly, to gay marriage advocates like Dan Savage and Andrew Sullivan. These writers keep variety and excitement uppermost in their treatment of sexuality. As Sullivan says, gay marriage has the potential not to destroy heterosexual marriage but to enhance it. The most succinct statement of Prioleau's outlook is that "libertine lovers may license a woman's own roving libido, and give her space to sample the goods." Despite the fact that Prioleau isn't much of a writer, her book is well worth reading because of its fresh ideas about an ancient topic and its wealth of references going back to the first Sumerian epic. Swoon is worth it if, even to a small extent. it liberates our inner ladies man.

[Long Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting account differing from your common "seduction mastery" that you see floating about on the internet. But at its core the two do share fundamental points: don't be a boring male. Basically, the whole book condenses as follows: you can suffer just about any disadvantage as long as you're not a boring male.

I believe she also has one from the female perspective, which might also be a fun read.

[Dixie Normous · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason, the copy I ordered was signed by the author, although not to me, so kind of cool.
This was another one of those books that ended up in my hands accidentally, and now I have both the hard copy, and the audiobook. I often wonder if this subject was written in reverse, could we expect as many pages, or variety of topic, but that's for someone else to write.
There were a number of excellent rabbit holes to dive in to here, one of which was drawing a distinction between and actual seducer, and those men trying to emulate that.
another fascinating trait of this book is looking back on activities these seducers in a historical context, and how they would have operated thousands of years ago.
as for accuracy, I'm sure there is no shortage of people who can take a few minutes from other arguments they are conducting to throw their two cents in, but from my observation, a great deal of the topics here hold true.

you speak to me in riddles, and speak to my in rhymes

[Joel Zalam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amo cuando un divulgador me atrapa en su libro y lo leo de corrido. El libro me encantó, no es perfecto, pero es una invitación esclarecedora, amena, amplia y libre de prejuicios de un tema extremadamente interesante. Solo diría como psicólogo, que desde el lado de esta paradigmática ciencia, muchas de las aseveraciones neurológicas y evolutivas, están en discusión y no son verdades totales. Sin embargo, toda la información histórica, los hechos que relata y el cómo lo hace es precioso. Es una carta de amor a los seductores, entendidos como personas polifacética que aman a las mujeres, y las cautivan por interesarse genuinamente en ellas. Es un repensamiento del Don Juan o Casanova (devolviéndole el honor que merece), que incluye la posibilidad de, por sus artes históricamente desdeñadas, se recupere la magia de las relaciones en algún punto, y a mí eso me parece precioso.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting non fiction that looks at various aspects that make men great seducers. At times it felt like the author had certain themes/ men’s attributes in mind and found stories that fitted those themes

[Ronin de Ako · Rating 1 out of 5]

¡Huid insensatos!

[Andrea Guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was about the anatomy of the "ladies man" Besty gave examples from just about ever arena and time span as well as popular fiction and romance.

The biggest draw of the books were the snippets about the real life ladies men, be they the well known ones or the more down to earth ones she interviewed for the book.

The one thing that I took away from this book was that there really is no formula for what makes a ladies man. Sure there are a lot of traits that these guys could have, but it doesn't necessarily fit the bill for the next guy that makes us all "Swoon."

Truth be told, I felt sorry for the women that get swept up by these guys. As you read the stories of the many "Casanovas" in this book, you see trails of women that left their husbands and families to be with these men, and it wasn't necessarily forever. Some returned to these men years later when they were on their death bed, to show their love to their former lover.

Yikes.

Perhaps this book should be used as a guide for women to know how to avoid these men, because, yes, they know how to treat a woman to get them into bed but overall you see a trail of women that are left. I'm not sure that's what I want in a man.

Or perhaps they are the men of the here and now and not the forever.

Betsy sites many historical figures like composer Franz List, Ben Franklin and more contemporary figures like Jack Nicholson, Bill Clinton and Hugh Jackman (though his ladies man label is in question). Personally I don't see Hugh that way. He's much too nice, where as you read more about the other men in question, they are all charm and sex but they aren't in for the long haul, they are in for the love and when they find a stronger pull somewhere else they are gone, or they take on mistresses.

This also doesn't paint a good picture of women, because we still fall for these guys?

Why?

The charm? The talking, the way they make women feel?

It is all that and more.

Because the one thing I took away from reading this book is that the ladies man makes the woman he's focusing on feel like she's the most important person in the whole world to him. And really, who doesn't want someone to feel that way about them?

It is shame that that feeling is fleeting or worse still, it is felt for other women too.

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed seeing which Casanovas the author chose to share with us. I was actually surprised that she didn't choose to show Albert Einstein, who was another odd ladies man. Proof that some of the men that really attract women aren't gorgeous, like Hugh Jackman or Johnny Depp. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if it had really been more stories about these ladies men, rather than snippets that categorized them by certain traits.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seductress is better this is derivative.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Swoon, Prioleau examines what makes a Lothario tick. What are his facets? Why do women find him irresistible? Is there a magic equation for being a ladies man? The answer seems to be that instead of one set formula there are a host of ways in which a ladies man can arise. A man need not even be physically attractive, so long as he has other attributes (the gift of gab, attentiveness, intelligence, humor, etc.).

Prioleau peppers her narrative with anecdotes from history, literature, and mythology. Many men are mentioned only briefly, but are interesting despite being little-known characters. She spends a great deal of time on Casanova (understandably), notably pianist Franz Liszt, and the odd poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (I guess you really had to meet him to understand the fuss).

Almost right off the bat, Prioleau makes a distinction between the "players" of today (who use a plethora of tricks learned from other "players" merely to get into bed with as many women as possible) and the true ladies men (who use no tricks, but genuinely just love women and through some combination of characteristics are loved en masse by them). I suppose if one has to choose between the two, it would be better to be wooed for years before being dropped for the next woman, rather than being dropped the morning after an encounter a la "player" style. In the end however, while the two types may be fundamentally different, the results of encountering and falling for either seem to be the same - a string of broken hearts.

Prioleau's book is solidly researched and entertaining. I will make a point to visit Seductress the book she published some years prior, discussing the female Casanovas of the world.

[Angelc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was different than I expected it to be. I normally enjoy this type of non-fiction because I enjoy reading about all of the historical figures and their outlandish storeis. While there are definitely historical ladies' men mentioned and referenced, this was more a book about how to spot and celebrate the different "types" of seducers.

I guess I thought it was going to be more fun to read about these ladies' men, but it really wasn't. I felt like the book was celebrating a less than stellar type of guy, and how he is great for women. Yes, it's nice that this type of man really does seem to love women, but still the lack of monogamy isn't something to celebrate for me.

I think if the book had been in a different format, I may have liked it better. Maybe if each of the men referenced had their own chapter or section devoted to their story, instead of each stereotype of seducer having its own chapter.

While this non-fiction book wasn't for me, other readers may enjoy reading about the different types of men that have made certain women swoon in the distant and not so distant past.


book sent by publicist and publisher in exchange for honest review

reviewed for http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com

[Nm Mur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although Prioleau promised to unearth the tantalizing cartography of the archetypal seducer, she invariably falls flat, amid a sea of florid prose that was more reminiscent of a romance novel then a serious cultural exploration of “what women want”.

Without a doubt several of her historical subjects such as Richelieu and even David Niven were probably the strongest portions of the book, but when she decided to interview the modern equivalent of supposed modern seducers she could barely animate them into these wondrous seductive fascinators that women flocked to in droves. In addition, her strong reliance of evolutionary psychological exploration also seemed to weigh her book down without any contrast to more recent research on the cultural evolution of gender and mating.

In the end, Prioleau freely admits that there is no real template to becoming the penultimate seducer. And that all of the lures (laughter, food, etc) that get women excited, are often fueled by the tantalizing little thing called charisma which can’t really be taught or mimicked. The rest of the mechanical devices that Prioleau halfheartedly explores, to making women swoon, are often by chance, and of course on who the woman ultimately chooses to bestow her favors.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has anyone else ever noticed that the most famous of “ladies men” tend to not be particularly handsome? Why, then, are they so popular with women?

Prioleau does a wonderful job of answering that question.
Using the most famous of those swoon worthy men that drew women like honey does bees, she goes into the psychological and behavioral aspects that allowed them to show themselves in a way that made women forget their physical attributes.

Well researched and laid out, with stories and anecdotes laid out in such a way that the writing flows with information without becoming boring or textbook-like.

It might even be considered a guide for gentlemen looking to up their game when it comes to women. Though, from what I’ve learned from Prioleau, it looks that you have to born with it.

I really enjoyed this book. I’d definitely recommend it, if not for the interesting research on what makes a man “swoon worthy” then at least for all the gossip and juicy stories that surround their lives.

Mandatory side note: I got my copy thru First Reads.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through the First Reads program.

Swoon was a disappointment for me overall. It was a classic case of a book with a good idea but poor execution. The book relies heavily on outdated, oddly anti-feminist ideas about what women want, what they are capable of, and how they best interact with men. Men who seduce are idealized, while women who seduce are presented as trashy. There is also the problem of the heteronormativity of the book -- has no man ever seduced another man? What about the men in the book who had bisexual experiences -- why were they ignored?

In the end, the ideas in the book were too dated for Swoon to be the fun, lighthearted read I was expecting. It's too easy a book to poke holes into, even if you're not setting out to try for that.

[Shandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It felt like a chore every time I picked this up, which is not, I think, how you're supposed to feel about a book detailing the adventures of ladies' men throughout history. It's riddled with typos (not the author's fault, I know), repetitive (I should have counted the number of times Dionysus was mentioned, or that someone said the phrase "He just loves women!"), and I almost walked away twenty pages from the end when Prioleau mentioned some literary women who wrote their great works "under the aegis" of the Casanovas they were involved with at the time.

Is this a bad book? Not at all. Did I enjoy it? Not really. Perhaps this is the reader's equivalent of "it's not you, it's me."

[Christine Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman walks down a grocery store aisle, and a man stops in his tracks and stares. She — and you — might never think of this fleeting encounter in the same way after reading Betsy Prioleau’s Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them, a witty and well-researched investigation into the true nature of the ladies’ man. Instead, up rise visions of Prince Aly Khan staring uninterrupted at a would-be love during an Ascot horserace or bullfighter Juan Belmonte pursuing women with the same intensity he deployed to conquer bulls. There’s no shortage of examples, past and present, that Prioleau draws upon to let these seductive men have their say.

Read more at@ http://literarylotus.com/2013/02/27/b...

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading about these "great" men I found myself thinking about our current election. Obviously man and woman relationships are still a source of confusion and contradictions.

The author reviews different traits a man might have that adds to his appeal. Then discusses examples in mythology, history, literature and modern times.

My only problem with her approach is she also tries to tie Darwin and natural selection to her subject. I find this a stretch, and can't believe millions of years of evolution were influenced by things like whether your suitor had a good sense of humor or not. People continued to multiply.

Still a good intelligent book on a rare subject.

[Betsy Hover · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was delighted to receive this book as Goodreads giveaway! The author, Betsy Prioleau, takes the reader on an exploration thru history to break-down and process the myths of Legendary Ladies man.

She indicates that these types of men are a different, complex species altogether, often without looks or money. They fit no known template and possess a cache of powerful erotic secrets. She reveals thru history, the identity of these master lovers and the arts they practiced to en-swoon women. This was a great book.

[Anthony · Rating 1 out of 5]

This well-researched and poorly constructed book is a scatter-brained look at the Don Juans and Casanovas of the world. Veering from historical anecdote, to modern chats with ladies men's, and also fictional examples that are strangely as likely to be from some classic novel as from a romance novel (and sometimes from movies and celebrity gossip) , the author swerves crazily across different contexts and centuries, almost every page. It feels like being taken on a long journey by an overly chatty but well-read drunk driver with ADHD.

[Kris Cram · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to win this book through Goodreads First Reads, but it wasn't what I was expecting. The author writes about both seducers throughout history as well as modern seducers. I had a hard time sitting down and reading this book. I put it down and read another book many times before I actually finished the book.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad for a non-fiction read but not as entertaining as I hoped. The chapters seemed intent on mentioning in brief as many men/details as possible without getting into the meat of any too deeply.

I did enjoy laughing at some of the prose and the quotes, but overall this book just didn't do it for me.