A Brief History of Nakedness

Description

A Brief History of Nakedness traces humanity's preoccupation with nudity in three distinct areas of human endeavour: religion, politics and popular culture. Rather than studying the history of the nude in art or photography, or detailing the ways in which the naked body has been denigrated or denied, this book explores new territory: revealing the ways in which religious teachers, politicians, protesters and cultural icons have used nudity to enlighten or empower themselves, or simply to entertain us. From the naked sages of India and St. Francis of Assisi to modern-day witches and Christian nudists, and from Lady Godiva to Lady Gaga, via The Full Monty and Calendar Girls, A Brief History of Nakedness surveys the touching, sometimes tragic and often bizarre story of our relationship to our naked bodies.

Philip Carr-Gomm is a writer and psychologist. His many books include Sacred Places (2008), Druid Mysteries (2002) and The Book of English Magic (with Richard Heygate, 2009).

'Philip Carr-Gomm has an idea: Stop reading and take off your clothes' - Chronicle of Higher Education 'Being naked in public can be fun, or naughty, or provocative, or health-giving, or political. It is almost always illegal. And, as anyone who has visited a nudist resort can testify, it is rarely, if ever, sexy. But, as Philip Carr-Gomm reveals in his academic romp through two millenniums of public exhibitionism from the ancient Greeks to animal-rights activists, you can be naked anywhere. You are only nude if someone is watching. Nakedness on its own is straightforward - it's the context and the audience of nudity that make it interesting ... wonderful illustrations' - Sunday Times 'Once you've finished this thought-provoking book, go back to the mirror. Slip off the bathrobe and have another look. Unless you were reading it in the waiting room of a plastic surgeon, nothing much will have changed. Yet something seems different. If it weren't anatomically impossible, you'd swear your whole body was smiling.' - Daily Telegraph