- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books (Mar 31 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345388941
- ISBN-13: 978-0345388940
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 1.9 x 22.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#73,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #19 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Sociobiology
- #50 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Women
- #53 in Books > Nonfiction > Education > Reference > Fun Facts > Curiosities & Wonders
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
What's in a breast? That depends on who's asking, says Marilyn Yalom, author of this scholarly, illustrated treatise on the breast in Western society. "Babies see food. Men see sex. Doctors see disease. Businesspeople see dollar signs." Breasts have been denounced as wanton, or idealized as givers of power or life in images of Egyptian goddess Isis nursing pharoahs; sturdy, maternal Mother Russia; or the more eroticized, bare-breasted symbol of republican ideals in France. Psychologists, religious leaders, advertisers, and pornographers have rhapsodized over, vilified, and used breasts to sell everything from war to Cadillacs. And, finally, women have seen in them pleasure, power, sustenance, fear, or failure to measure up.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The image of the nurturing Madonna, invented in 14th-century Italy, resurrected an earlier tradition of big-breasted Paleolithic figurines representing fertility or nursing goddesses, Yalom claims. But beginning in the Renaissance, she says, the breast, stripped of its relation to the sacred, became the playground of male desire, taking on in the West a predominantly erotic meaning that it has not possessed in other eras and cultures. According to Yalom, writings on the breast by Rousseau, Freud, Jung and novelist Philip Roth reflect a male-centered, sexist worldview. With wit and dispassionate scholarship, Stanford researcher and feminist scholar Yalom decodes the social constructions of the breast as political symbol of liberty in the French Revolution, idealized domestic comforter in the Dutch golden age, modern advertising commodity and source of titillation in the arts, entertainment, erotica and pornography. She charts women's increasing involvement in the sexual politics of controlling their bodies and breasts, from 1960s bra-burning to today's growing concern about breast cancer. Intriguingly and amply illustrated with reproductions of paintings, sculpture, prints, posters, ads and photographs, this enlightening, often surprising cultural history will compel men and women to think differently about the breast.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous,
By MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: History of the Breast (Paperback)
With a wonderful blend of serious history and modern humor where appropriate, the author presents a thought provoking run down on the history over 25 centuries and the photos of Annie Sprinkles Bosom Ballet on page 268 made the purchase worth every cent.As the author wisely notes that Westerners assumptions about the breast is often wrong, and that Non western cultures have their own fetishes be it small feet in China, the nape of the neck in Japan, the buttocks in Africa and the Caribbean. That through out western history the breast has been viewed as good and bad, and by men mostly and religious men in particular. The book is excellent in showing how the breast has been used to depict power and justice be it in war posters (Bosoms For The Nation) or the lady of justice with one breast exposed. To breasts used to sell products or alas slaves. (The commercialized Breast) How the whole idea that breasts were owned according to some by the husband, or were considered babies domain. That it wasn't until the women's movement that women demanded that what was on their bodies belonged to them to do with as they wished, be it nipple piercing, nudity, no bra etc. (The liberated Breast) There are photos of mastectomy survivors and lord knows dozens of bare, exposed, all size breasts, which I assume the reader would expect in a serious book about the human breast. It is a book I am so glad I bought. Also check out her excellent History Of The Wife book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Work of Social History,
By
This review is from: A History of the Breast (Hardcover)
Marilyn Yalom (her latest work, History of the Wife, is spectacular) shows her characteristic style of humor and scholarship in history of the breast. Relying on both art and personal accounts, Yalom goes era by era detailing various Western cultures' attitudes toward the female body and specifically the breast. She spends a great deal of effort detailing modern concerns like breast cancer treatment and breastfeeding controversies and with the background in the first half of the book, the reader is easily able to see how current attitudes have been shaped throughout history. An excellent book for the social historian, women's studies person, or art historian.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to read,
By Larry Hatlett (Palo Alto) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A History of the Breast (Hardcover)
Marilyn Yalom has a fascinating way of blending history, culture and personal stories in her new book. It reminds me of what Ken Burns has done in some of his documentaries, where you learn as much about life in the times as you do about the specific topic. The book is a wonderful and easy way to learn about the wife in different times, cultures and religions, and also the possibilities of what it might mean to be a wife in the future. Excellent reading.
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