One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair [Paperback]

Allan Peterkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

A witty, comprehensive history of facial hair, documenting its continuous rise and fall as a trend. With style recipes, information on care and upkeep, and hundreds of pictures of famous bearded men (and women!), One Thousand Beards provides an insightful, light-hearted, and well-groomed look at facial hair.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Early cave paintings show Stone Agers plucking out facial hair with sea shells, suggesting that the decision to grow or not grow a beard is almost as old as human society itself. Allan Peterkin's One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair traces the beard's (and the razor's) storied past, including styles, regulations and cultural significance from the ancient Egyptians to the present day. The breezy and concise illustrated volume also covers the various religious meanings of beards, facial hair in gay culture, bearded ladies and the beard as interpreted by Freud. Peterkin includes instructions for washing, dying, trimming and shaving all kinds of beards from Amish-style to the Franz Josef.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

An entertaining and informative combination of a history, a documentary, an appreciation and a catalog.
—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)

Touching on both the history and the psychological interpretations of this seemingly minor cultural cue, Peterkin analyzes the ever-changing shaving practices of celebrities, criminals, and carnival performers.
—Quill & Quire (Quill & QUire)

Full of fascinating detail, the book has an accessible tone suited to its subject.
—The Globe & Mail (Globe & Mail)

Peterkin entertainingly follows many a revealing strand. . .
—Toronto Star (Toronto Star)

[This] is an entertaining book for those who boast facial hair and those who don't.
—Vancouver Sun (Vancouver Sun)

While Peterkin has fun with witty quips from poets, playrights, philosophers, and theologians through the centuries, he is also quite serious and instructive. . .
—ForeWord (ForeWord)

Peterkin carves a witty, thought-provoking read from his bewhiskered subject matter.
—Resonance (Resonance)

Jam-packed with beard-related sidebar quotations and facts and figures, One Thousand Beards is a trivia-lover's delight, and an essential reference for anyone giving a barber-college valedictory address.
—Fast Forward (Fast Forward)

This is the kind of information that can only make life happier, funnier, and a little bit more full. It not only freshly stocked my cache of trivia, but it opened my mind to the wealth of stories I can find in all of the places I would have never thought to look.
—Worn Fashion Journal (www.wornjournal.com) (Worn Fashion Journal 20090723)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551521075
• ISBN-13: 978-1551521077
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #227,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Beauty, Grooming, & Style > Men's Grooming & Style

More About the Author

Allan D. Peterkin is a Toronto-based physician and writer.
He has published picture books for children as well as books on cultural history and medicine. He is a founding editor of ARS MEDICA: A Journal of Medicine, The Arts and Humanities ( www.ars-medica.ca)and heads the Program in Health, Arts and Humanities at the University of Toronto
(www.health-humanities.com)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars History, meaning, and how-to February 18, 2002

By Eileen Galen

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Psychiatrist and writer Allan Peterkin has a playful and curious mind, and an obvious love of research. His past wanderings have taken him into the vagaries and varieties of the language of erotics, which he tackled enthusiastically - with a thesaurus, no less. The subject of beards is one that he admits he had never given much thought until one morning a few years ago.

His interest was piqued, he says in his introduction to this delightful book, in "one of those perverse moments of inspiration." Walking to work in downtown Toronto, "rather than indulging my own thoughts as usual," he started noticing faces, and he then noticed that more than a third of the males were in some fashion bearded, soul patched, sideburned, mustachioed - and so it began. He wanted to uncover the meanings of facial hair, the "unconscious reasons" that men grew and tended beards, and even the "ritualistic symbolism of shaving." He wondered what women thought about beards. His survey expanded to his colleagues, his psychotherapy patients, and strap-hangers on the Toronto subway. (You might guess that he asked his friends, too.) He was off and running.

This marvelous and generously-illustrated book is the result of his considerable ability to tackle his subject with energy, brainpower, humor and a sense of fun. It's a documentary, a history, a survey, an appreciation, and a catalogue. There are hundreds of black and white illustrations, and topical quotations from famous and not so famous beard-wearers. Chapter 6 deals with the (usually) unwanted thing: "The Feminine Beard." The compulsory beard (the Taliban being a recent and dramatic example of mandatory beardedness) is examined, too - in a chapter on religious beards.... There's a "Timeline of Queer Facial Hair" among other remarkable bits of information in the chapter "The Gay Beard."

Facial hair's inevitable products and labors (shaving cream, razors, clippers, trimmers, and more) are included. Chapter 13, "The Personal Beard: Grooming Strategies" is a sort of owner's manual. If Great-grand-dad is no longer around to show you how to strop a razor, you can use Peterkin's instructions.

There are a lot of useful addresses and websites listed at this book's end (even "Where to Order False Facial Hair" should you need some), an extensive bibliography but, unfortunately, no index. Nonetheless this is a delightful book that is comprehensive and smart - and also a lot of fun. I know that I won't look at or think about facial hair in quite the same way ever again. Read more ›

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun and informative book August 30, 2002

By Robert A. Ballantyne

Format:Paperback

I don't have a beard myself, but I know a lot of people who do, and this is a fascinating account of the history of facial hair that provides some interesting factoids and insight into the meaning of why some of us choose to wear hair on our faces. I gave this book to some of my bearded friends, and they loved it. It's a real winner.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ FOR EVERY BEARDED MAN OR EVERY MAN THINKING OF GROWING A BEARD July 25, 2008

By Steve Horwitz

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Allan Peterkin is a genius and great historian. In order to write a book related to a cultural history of facial hair takes passion and commitment.

I just finished reading this book and found it fascinating, enlightening, educational, and historical. ONE THOUSAND BEARDS also had a brilliant editor. The content follows a pattern organizational content put together beautifully from the introduction to the bibliography.

Allan Peterkin gave me the opportunity to look up certain words that I did not know the meanings of. However, I completed reading the book first and underlined parts of its vocabulary. Instead of using the dictionary during my reading, I waited until I waited until I was finished digesting the entire content of ONE THOUSAND BEARDS.

This is not a four star book. It is worth ten stars. Forget about the 1992 publishing date. ONE THOUSAND BEARDS is current, to the point, and an incredible read.

I was so impressed with this book; I would consider it an honor if I could get my copy autographed by the author. Hopefully if Allan Peterkin reads my review he will contact me through Amazon and make my wish a reality.

I have a great deal of respect for its author. The only thing left to say is congratulations.
Steve Horwitz

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, Informative, Awesome. January 11, 2009

By K. Nevinsky

Format:Paperback

I bought this book as a gift for two friends, and they really love it! One of them happens to be my roommate, so I get a chance to look at it whenever I please. It's not a book that you have to read cover to cover, you can open it up to any page and read a section of it. It has a lot of epic stories about people in history with facial hair...and plenty of pictures. It's a great read for anyone, man or woman, beard or no beard.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A cliff notes history of beards June 24, 2005

By Jerry Jancarik Jr.

Format:Paperback

This is a fun book but for the ultimate, definitive source on the history of hairstyles you will need to splurge on the $100 book Fashions in Hair (2001-9th edition) by Richard Corson. Although it focuses on hairstyles for both men and women, the depth of information in that book is amazing, full of historical anecdotes and thousands of illustrations. It is certainly the ultimate, definitive source on the subject. Consider 1000 Beards the cliff notes version of that book, and a rather slim one at that.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Reading January 31, 2006

By So. Calif book reader

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read constantly and have dozens and dozens of books waiting for me to read-but when this one arrived I read it right away. I had to know all about beards. I LOVE facial hair on men though I don't particularly like beards. Make sense??? What I'm saying is that I like sideburns, goatees, soul patches, goatees without moustache, etc. Just seeing a man with a heavy shadow and the proverbial 5 o'clock shadow. ALL very sexy!! I would have liked more present day photos, but I liked it all. I wish someone would write a book about men's hairy legs. One thousand sets of hairy legs. Then I would really go crazy!!

4 of 109 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Beard? Weird! November 22, 2002

By nickunt

Format:Paperback

I, for one, find body hair of any description totally abhorrent, so I found this book one of the most difficult and challenging reads of my life. Peterkin's description of hair follicles, for example, borders, at times, on the pornographic.
I had to skip the chapter where he waxes lyrical about the curl-to-density ratio of pubic hair because I became too nauseous to carry on reading.