The Kiss by Katie Barclay review – a history of passion, power and puckering up

From heads of state to foot-kissing knights, Hollywood romcoms to sex, a fascinating story of the gesture that for centuries has brought people together If, on a European holiday, you get flustered greeting people – should you kiss? how many times? – spare a thought for Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus. Visiting England in 1499, he found a nation of enthusiastic kissers. “Wherever you go, you are received on all hands with kisses; when you take leave you are dismissed with kisses,” he wrote in surprise, or possibly, alarm. On the continent, the fashion for greeting with a peck on the lips h

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