Touchy Situations

It’s a simple act: an arm draping a shoulder, a meeting of lips or one hand holding another. But often, more profoundly, a touch is a joining of hearts. In “Life & Love: A Book of Embraces” (Little, Brown & Co., 1995), the editors of Life magazine have compiled photographs of busses, bear hugs and caresses. Among the 87 images collected from the pages and archives of the magazine are the awkward clasps between elementary school dancers, the gentle pats reserved for a tiny new life, and the still passionate nestling of a love that’s lasted decades. In all, it shows the pure necessity of this simple act.