This is a book that is hard to describe because of its uniqueness. It is a scientific study of altrustic love.
It is pan-religious, not centering on Christian nor Eastern religious views. Sorokin covers the desert Church fathers to Patanjali as well as modern examples. Sorokin was perhaps one of the first to warn about the dangers of what he calls "Tribal Egotism" and has a chapter here called "From Tribal Egotism to Universal Altruism." He mentions steps that would eliminate intergroup warfare. A classic book in sociology that I hope more people will somehow find entering their life because it successfully counters the shadow of self-centeredness found to be implicit in much academic psychoanalytic theory as well as the influence of Nietzsche on recent philosophy. In those books,
what is seen as normal and healthy is what allows the "will to power" to come forth in the human psyche. In Sorokin's work, love is seen, and even proven to be, as the major criteria of true mental health.