Crying: The Natural & Cultural History of Tears

From Sophocles to Shakespeare, from the Maori of New Zealand (who sob and wail in greeting) to the teenagers who wept over Titanic, Lutz leaves no tear unexamined in his sweeping inquiry into the physical, psychological, and emotional act of crying. One fascinating fact follows another — for example, emotional tears have a higher protein concentration than those caused by physical reflexes, like peeling onions. This encyclopedia of all things weepy will engage even the most stoic reader, although some might squall over the absence of exact sources for favorite tidbits. A-