Homosexuality: A History
Publisher: Fourth Estate Ltd
Published: September 18, 1995
Language: eng
Format: Unknown Binding
Number of pages: 448
ISBN-13: 9781857021431
Description: "Homosexuality is older than humanity itself, having flourished among our hominid ancestors. Anthropological research in hunter-gatherer societies has established that same-sex relations were not merely permissible but played a crucial part in the ritual progression by which boy became man. Similarly, archaeologists investigating the great civilisations of Sumeria, Mesopotamia and Egypt have discovered evidence that homosexual love was vital to the very integrity of the social fabric of the times." "The privileged status of homosexuality in the city states of ancient Greece is well known - abundant artworks and writings attest to the primacy of the male form, as an ideal for warriors, athletes and artists - but 'Greek Love' was just as important an ideal for the militaristic Romans. In ancient China and India and throughout the Islamic empire, the love of man for man was respected, even honoured. Colin Spencer cuts through more than two millennia of distortion and obfuscation in a masterly examination of the source material. Even the fiery strictures of Leviticus, the brimstone fall of Sodom, may not, he argues, be all that they seem; while the tale of David and Jonathan is, of course, beyond doubt one of the great love stories of all time."--BOOK JACKET.
Table of contents: title: Foreword
pagenum: 7; label: 1
title: Prehistory and Early Civilisations
pagenum: 13; label: 2
title: The Conflict: Greeks and Jews
pagenum: 39; label: 3
title: Rome, The East and Early Christianity
pagenum: 67; label: 4
title: The Celts, Feudalism and Islam
pagenum: 93; label: 5
title: Medieval Europe and New Worlds
pagenum: 125; label: 6
title: Renaissance England
pagenum: 149; label: 7
title: Puritanism and the Rise of the Work Ethic
pagenum: 171; label: 8
title: The Elite and Transvestism
pagenum: 197; label: 9
title: Sex and the Enlightenment
pagenum: 219; label: 10
title: Empire and Industry
pagenum: 253; label: 11
title: Colonisation by Medicine
pagenum: 289; label: 12
title: Wars and Persecution
pagenum: 323; label: 13
title: Reform, Liberation and Inequality
pagenum: 363; label: 14
title: Analysis and Reflections
pagenum: 391; title: Select Bibliography
pagenum: 409; title: References
pagenum: 419; title: Index
pagenum: 437