50 Most Romantic Things

Many of the lovers profiled in these tender vignettes made unusual, elaborate or dramatic amorous gestures, such as Richard Wagner's dedicating his Symphonic Birthday Greetings to his new wife, Cosima von Bulow, on Christmas morning of 1870, Cleopatra's carving love letters to Antony on tablets of crystal and onyx and actor William Baldwin's renting of an elegant Manhattan hotel suite, filled with white roses and wedding dresses, as a setting in which to propose to Chynna Phillips. On the whole, though, these 50 short tales do not really justify the superlative in the title. Yet by combing biographies, histories, correspondence, diaries and memoirs, von Mueffling, a New York-based journalist and president of the AIDS-awareness organization Love Heals, concisely charts the course of intimate love relationships. Along with famed couples Anne Morrow and Charles Lindbergh, Empress Alexandra and Czar Nicholas, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, some of the most moving stories involve ordinary people, such as the star-crossed sweethearts-he a Serb, she a Muslim-who fled war-torn Bosnia with tragic results. This is a classy Valentine's Day gift. (Feb.)