A sweeping survey of sexuality in Europe from the Greeks to the present Desire: A History of European Sexuality follows changing attitudes to two major concepts of sexual desire – desire as dangerous polluting and disorderly and desire as creative transcendent even revolutionary – through the major turning points of European history. Chronological in structure and wide ranging in scope Desire addresses such topics as sex in ancient Judaism Christianity and Islam sexual contact and culture clash in Spain and colonial Mesoamerica new attitudes toward sexuality in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and sex in Bolshevik Russia and Nazi Germany. The book introduces the concept of twilight moments to describe activities seen as shameful or dishonorable but which were tolerated when concealed by shadows and integrates the history of heterosexuality with same-sex desire as well as exploring the emotions of love and lust as well as the politics of sex and personal experiences. This new edition has been updated to include a new chapter on sex and imperialism and expanded discussions of Islam and trans issues. Drawing on a rich array of sources including poetry novels pornography and film as well as court records autobiographies and personal letters and written in a lively engaging style Desire remains an essential resource for scholars and students of the history of European sexuality as well as women’s and gender history social and cultural history and LGBTQ history. |Desire A History of European Sexuality | History
