Thomas W. Laqueur is an American historian and sexologist whose work delves into the cultural histories of human sexuality. His writing examines how our understanding of the body and gender has evolved across centuries, uncovering the intricate social constructions that shape our intimate lives. Through meticulous research, Laqueur offers profound insights into how our perceptions of sexuality and the body have transformed from antiquity to the modern era, challenging notions of inherent nature. His approach invites readers to reconsider deeply ingrained assumptions about what it means to be human and how that identity is forged by both biological and cultural forces.
Turning Freud's famous dictum around, Thomas Laqueur posits that destiny is anatomy. Sex, in other words, is an artifice and Making Sex tells the story of sex in the west from the ancients to the moderns. It looks at how our predecessors thought about anatomy and analyzes our ideas on gender. číst celé
The Greek philosopher Diogenes said that when he died his body should be tossed over the city walls for beasts to scavenge. Why should he or anyone else care what became of his corpse? In The Work of the Dead, acclaimed cultural historian Thomas Laqueur examines why humanity has universally rejected Diogenes's argument. No culture has been indifferent to mortal remains. Even in our supposedly disenchanted scientific age, the dead body still matters- for individuals, communities, and nations. A remarkably ambitious history, The Work of the Dead offers a compelling and richly detailed account of how and why the living have cared for the dead, from antiquity to the twentieth century.