What is the author's perspective in the nonfiction book, All About Love: New Visions?

All About Love is written primarily from the perspective of the author and narrator bell hooks. As such, it is written in the first person limited omniscient. The book is a reflection of her beliefs, theories, and arguments, all of which are based on a combination of personal experience, research, and scholarship on love. There is very limited dialogue in this book, meaning that hooks’ perspectives are very much at the forefront of the text. However, she does include the perspectives of other writers and scholars by quoting significantly from other works of literature on the subject of love. The perspectives of others are primarily included in the form of direct quotes from their writings. In some cases, though they are far fewer, hooks also includes the perspectives of people she has interviewed, such as the rap artist Lil’ Kim, or of her friends who have shared anecdotes about love from their own lives. The inclusion of quotes from other books in particular serves to reinforce and support hooks’ arguments, thus bolstering her opinions and her authorial authority.

hooks’ perspective on the topic of love is greatly informed by her long career as a feminist scholar. Her writing is clearly done through a feminist lens that considers the impact the patriarchy has had in shaping our understandings about love. As a black woman, hooks’ perspective on love is likely also greatly informed by her experience as a minority. She does touch upon systemic racism as a system of power and domination that needs to be dismantled in order to achieve a cultural love ethic, but this is not explored as much as her discussion of patriarchy and sexism.