The Care of Love – Review

We are all children. This is the common thread that has always bound humanity together—for better or worse—embodying a sense of dependence. Eva Feder Kittay's book centers on constructive, life-giving dependence, the kind that fills our days with meaning and purpose. She explores vulnerability and dependence across different forms of disability, grounding her analysis in the perspective of those who care for others. Today, care work is treated as secondary labor—marginal, invisible, the province of the powerless or unskilled. Yet it is work of enormous social, philosophical, economic, legal, and moral significance. Her reflections move between theoretical terrain and deeply personal reflection, drawn from her own experience of motherhood, the discovery of her eldest daughter's profound disability, and her journey toward relationship with a child—and later a woman—who will depend on others for her entire life.