Common wisdom has it that love is fragile, but leading psychoanalyst Stephen A. Mitchell argues that romance doesn't actually diminish in long-term relationships-it becomes increasingly dangerous. What we regard as the transience of love is really risk management. Mitchell shows that love can endure, if only we become aware of our self-destructive efforts to protect ourselves from its risks. "Those who read this book will love more wisely because of it."-Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon "[A] work on romance that is rich and multi-layered."-Publishers Weekly "Cheerful, open, and humane-you'd definitely have wanted him as your analyst."-Judith Shulevitz, The New York Times Book Review "[T]houghtful, compassionate, and profoundly optimistic."-JoAnn Gutin, Salon.com

Stephen A. Mitchell died in 2000 at the pinnacle of his career as a theorist and clinician. He is the author of Freud and Beyond.