Title:
Seduction : a history from the Enlightenment to the present
Author:
Edition:
First Pegasus Books hardcover edition.
Publication Date:
2020
Publication Information:
New York, NY : Pegasus Books, Ltd., 2020.
©2020
Physical Description:
ix, 482 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
ISBN:
9781643131993
Abstract:
Clement Knox explores seduction in all its historical and cultural incarnations. Moving from the Garden of Eden to the carnivals of eighteenth-century Venice, and from the bawdy world of Georgian London to the saloons and speakeasies of the Jazz Age, this is an exploration of timeless themes of power, desire, and free will. Along the way we meet Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughter Mary Shelley, and her friend Caroline Norton, and reckon with their fight for women's rights and freedoms. We encounter Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, who became entangled in America's labyrinthine and racialized seduction laws. We discover how tall tales of predatory vampires, hypnotists, and immigrants were mobilized by Nazis and nativists to help propel them to power. We consider how after seduction seemingly vanished from view during the Sexual Revolution, it exploded back into our lives as The Game became a multi-million bestseller, online dating swept the world, and the ongoing male fascinating with manipulating women was exposed.
Contents:
Rake culture -- The transit of Venus -- An unsentimental education -- Circling Mary Shelley -- Of Mann and men -- Blood out -- Seduction remains.
Language:
English