by Philip Carr-Gomm is full of surprising reasons people get naked, and funny ones, and practical ones, and sensual ones, and many more. What might have seemed a topic that was too simple to repay extended thought turns out to have many subtle (and not-so-subtle) facets. . . . This book is as fun as history gets."--Dispatch (Columbus "MS)""A kooky survey of the clothing-free."--Alexis Soloski "Village Voice""Ambitious and often entertaining."-- "BBC History Magazine""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."-- "Times (UK)""It's safe to say that Philip Carr-Gomm is the rare man of letters who would admit to reading
Philip W. Steer, Seated Nude: The Black Hat, British Impressionist Nude Print
, Philip Carr-Gomm traces our preoccupation with nudity in three distinct areas of human endeavour: religion, politics and popular culture. Rather than study the history of the fine-art nude, or detail the ways in which the naked body has been denigrated or imprisoned, this book explores new territory – revealing the ways in which religious teachers, politicians, protestors 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 druids and Christian nudists, from
