In this eye-opening book Thomas Moore turns to the dark side of love: its cruelties, perversions, and appalling tortures. Bravely and with brilliant insights, Moore re-imagines the repulsive fictions of the Marquis de Sade to learn what they can teach about the horrors hidden deep inside the human soul, revealing unsuspected poetic and imaginative powers within violence and sexual victimization. The book also shows the sadomasochism that lies unseen in many aspects of everyday life.

With a foreword by Adolf Guggenbühl-Craig and a new afterword by the author.