Book
Butts : a backstory
Record details
- ISBN: 9781982135485
-
Physical Description:
viii, 310 pages ; 23 cm
regular print - Edition: First Avid Reader Press hardcover edition.
- Publisher: New York : Avid Reader Press, 2022.
- Copyright: ©2022.
Content descriptions
| Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Buttocks -- History Buttocks |
Available copies
- 6 of 6 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Grand Forks and District Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 6 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show All Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Forks | 611.98 RAD (Text) | 35142002764842 | Adult Non Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
Whether we love them or hate them, think they're sexy or silly or strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between--humans have a complicated relationship with their butts. It is a body part unique to humans, and crucial to our evolutionand survival--and yet, over time, it has come to represent so much more beyond its physiological function. A woman's butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, the subject of crude remarks on the street or in a school hallway, or of anxious self-examinations in a dressing room mirror. But how did a mass of muscle and fat become an aesthetic and a cultural Rorschach test for our collective feelings about what's desirable, acceptable, and shameful? And why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and Radiolab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out. On a quest to explore the anatomical, emotional, and cultural ways that the butt has been understood throughout more than two hundred years of history, Radke takes us from the performance halls of nineteenth-century London and the aerobics studios of the 1980s to the music video set of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" and the mountains of Arizona, where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Along the way, she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed in early hominids, fit models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women, and exercise gurus who created fads like "Buns of Steel"; she also examines the central importance of race in our understanding of women's butts through figures such as Sarah Baartman--once known as the "Venus Hottentot"--Josephine Baker, Jennifer Lopez, and other women of color whose butts have been idolized, envied, and despised. Part deep-dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities, Butts is an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful investigation of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashion--and how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others. -- - Simon and Schuster
*ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF FALL: Esquire, Time, LitHub, The Every Girl, BookPage*
âOne of the yearâs most ingenious and eye-opening cultural studies.â âPublishers Weekly, Best Books of 2022
âDeeply thought, rigorously researched, and riveting...A pitch-perfect debut.â âMelissa Febos, bestselling author of Girlhood and Body Work
Whether we love them or hate them, think theyâre sexy, think theyâre strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans, critical to our evolution and survival, and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex, desire, comedy, shame. A womanâs butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out.
Spanning nearly two centuries, this âwhip-smartâ (Publishers Weekly, starred review) cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s, the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lotâs âBaby Got Backâ and the mountains of Arizona, where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Along the way, she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed; models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women; and the fitness gurus who created fads like âBuns of Steel.â She also examines the central importance of race through figures like Sarah Bartmann, once known as the âVenus Hottentot,â Josephine Baker, Jennifer Lopez, and other women of color whose butts have been idolized, envied, and despised.
Part deep dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities, Butts is an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful examination of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashionâand how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others.
