Customer Reviews

A History of the Breast

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I found this to be an easy to read, informative book about how the west has viewed the breast in art, politics and medicine. As a researcher in the sociology of reproduction, I was impressed by her synthesis of wet nursing and breastfeeding in her chapters on the politics of the breast. I found her analyses compelling. The review of how the breast appeared in art was new to me and here I appreciated Yalom's writing style--accessible yet thorough. Her weakest chapters are the one on psychoanalytic treatment of the breast, and the one covering recent culture. I found her coverage and analysis of the psychoanalytic literature to be out of place and she didn't seem to integrate it as well as I'd have liked in the politics/art of the time. The final chapter on recent cultural attitudes and representations of the breast could have been an entire book, so I felt a bit cheated. It wasn't clear why she included some things and not others, and I think she gave short shrift to the current issues surrounding breastfeeding, esp. to characterizing La Leche League on the basis of one person's anecdotal quote. But overall, a great introduction to the breast and definitely a stimulus to reading more, especially about non-Western attitudes toward the breast. It might have been interesting to include a cross-cultural chapter... Finally, the photographs are numerous, interesting, and nicely complement her analysis.

With a wonderful blend of serious history and modern humor where appropriate, the author presents a thought provoking run down on the history over 25 centuries and the photos of Annie Sprinkles Bosom Ballet on page 268 made the purchase worth every cent.

As the author wisely notes that Westerners assumptions about the breast is often wrong, and that Non western cultures have their own fetishes be it small feet in China, the nape of the neck in Japan, the buttocks in Africa and the Caribbean. That through out western history the breast has been viewed as good and bad, and by men mostly and religious men in particular.

The book is excellent in showing how the breast has been used to depict power and justice be it in war posters (Bosoms For The Nation) or the lady of justice with one breast exposed. To breasts used to sell products or alas slaves. (The commercialized Breast) How the whole idea that breasts were owned according to some by the husband, or were considered babies domain. That it wasn't until the women's movement that women demanded that what was on their bodies belonged to them to do with as they wished, be it nipple piercing, nudity, no bra etc. (The liberated Breast)

There are photos of mastectomy survivors and lord knows dozens of bare, exposed, all size breasts, which I assume the reader would expect in a serious book about the human breast.

It is a book I am so glad I bought. Also check out her excellent History Of The Wife book.

Yalom's book meets the highest standards for careful academic work, and, as a source, will turn out to be the standard for investigation into the subject in the future. But the appeal is broad and will engage the general reader, the historian, the physician. In short it is a good history, a good cultural study, and a good read. Fine writing, intriguing illustrations dilated to include such diversity as the political breast, the surgical breast, the nursing breast, the pornographic breast. An excellent analysis.

Marilyn Yalom (her latest work, History of the Wife, is spectacular) shows her characteristic style of humor and scholarship in history of the breast. Relying on both art and personal accounts, Yalom goes era by era detailing various Western cultures' attitudes toward the female body and specifically the breast. She spends a great deal of effort detailing modern concerns like breast cancer treatment and breastfeeding controversies and with the background in the first half of the book, the reader is easily able to see how current attitudes have been shaped throughout history. An excellent book for the social historian, women's studies person, or art historian.

I first came across A History of the Breast while researching the evolution of the corset for a graduate term paper. Immediately intrigued by the straight-forward title and various brief reviews, I picked up the book with the intention of diving in at the earliest possible opportunity. Of course, that opportunity didn't seem to come until about 2.5 years later.

Marilyn Yalom's A History of the Breast is a fascinating work focusing on, obviously, the cultural evolution of the perception of the breast. Yalom's text moves chronologically and pulls from any and all material available, from statues to literature and pamphlets, to advertisements and modern social movements. While I was personally most interested in her examination of the breast as it evolved from "The Sacred Breast" of ancient civilizations to "The Domestic Breast" of the Dutch, the text attempts to cover a wide range of subjects extending into politics, psychology, and commercialism.

What I feel is an unfortunate flaw in Yalom's work is her assumptive attitude towards her reader; she assumes that her audience consists solely of other feminist scholars, and seems to be writing directly to them as opposed to a wider audience of scholars and enthusiasts. While very little of the work actually seems to rely on feminist theory and interpretation, Yalom's historical analysis at times appears to be overly-hostile to her subjects (specifically those of the Renaissance) while providing no academic basis for such hostility within this individual work. As a student and instructor of literature, I found her treatment of English literature particularly troubling; it seems to detract from the strength of the writing, as it reduces great works to rather shallow interpretations. Of course, feminist theory is an academically rich field in and of itself, and it's just as likely that my own ignorance of Yalom's field is as at fault for my discomfort as the text itself.

Overall, I was very pleased with A History of the Breast and the wealth of information and insight it provided. Yalom's style is easy to read, and logically presented in such a way as to build the reader's understanding as the book progresses. For anyone interested in gender studies, women's history, breasts and breastfeeding, the female form in art and culture, or the evolution of women's clothing I would certainly recommend this book.

In nine chapters Marilyn Yalom covers European and American attitudes and use of the female breast from the earliest cities of the Near East to the end of the 20th century. The book is very Western in it's focus, so not a comprehensive history. However, if you know that then you will find a good solid historical approach to an symbol and a body part that has played a huge role in art, literature, politics, religion, and even economies. Generous use of images and quotations are helpful in demonstrating how historians reason and use evidence without making the book very appealing to those looking for a sexual thrill. Overall the book is arranged both thematically and chronologically when possible. This is a book I could have undergraduates read as a feasible example of how history can be interesting and still be focused on the discipline's methods.

Marilyn Yalom has a fascinating way of blending history, culture and personal stories in her new book. It reminds me of what Ken Burns has done in some of his documentaries, where you learn as much about life in the times as you do about the specific topic. The book is a wonderful and easy way to learn about the wife in different times, cultures and religions, and also the possibilities of what it might mean to be a wife in the future. Excellent reading.