The Mystery of Tears

Reviews the book "Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears" by Tom Lutz. Lutz's working premise is that we do our theorizing and research from the perspective that culture, time, and place make a difference, both as to the conditions for crying and to the kinds of evaluative judgments made by coactors and by religious or other authorities on the propriety of crying. Crossing traditional disciplinary lines, the author revivifies the many-stranded conceptions of crying and tears, drawing from ancient and modern history, mythology, literature, drama, folklore, graphic arts, as well as sociology, physiology, psychology, and anthropology. Not developed in this seminal book are the contemporary views of embodiment as a way of construing crying and tears. However, the book is scholarly and well written, and is recommended wholeheartedly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)