The Oldest Profession: An Illustrated History Of Prostitution
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Few institutions have shaped human civilization as profoundly — and as silently — as prostitution, and Hilary Evans' The Oldest Profession: An Illustrated History of Prostitution chronicles this deeply complex social phenomenon with scholarly rigor and unflinching candor. Drawing on the vast visual archives of the Mary Evans Picture Library, the work traces the history of sex work from the sacred temple prostitutes of the ancient world through the regulated brothels of medieval Europe, the infamous maisons closes of 19th-century Paris, and into the modern era, presenting a panoramic survey of how societies across time have negotiated, criminalized, moralized, and commodified female sexuality. Evans writes with the authority of a cultural historian and the eye of a social anthropologist, situating prostitution not as a mere footnote to history but as a mirror reflecting the economic anxieties, gender hierarchies, and moral contradictions of every age it has inhabited. The rich illustration program — sourced from one of the world's most distinguished picture libraries — transforms the text into a compelling visual document, making the abstract viscerally real. For readers willing to confront the uncomfortable truths embedded in this oldest profession, Evans' work raises a question that history has never fully answered: who, in the end, is truly implicated?
Author: Hilary Evans
Format: Hardback
Genre: History
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Few institutions have shaped human civilization as profoundly — and as silently — as prostitution, and Hilary Evans' The Oldest Profession: An Illustrated History of Prostitution chronicles this deeply complex social phenomenon with scholarly rigor and unflinching candor. Drawing on the vast visual archives of the Mary Evans Picture Library, the work traces the history of sex work from the sacred temple prostitutes of the ancient world through the regulated brothels of medieval Europe, the infamous maisons closes of 19th-century Paris, and into the modern era, presenting a panoramic survey of how societies across time have negotiated, criminalized, moralized, and commodified female sexuality. Evans writes with the authority of a cultural historian and the eye of a social anthropologist, situating prostitution not as a mere footnote to history but as a mirror reflecting the economic anxieties, gender hierarchies, and moral contradictions of every age it has inhabited. The rich illustration program — sourced from one of the world's most distinguished picture libraries — transforms the text into a compelling visual document, making the abstract viscerally real. For readers willing to confront the uncomfortable truths embedded in this oldest profession, Evans' work raises a question that history has never fully answered: who, in the end, is truly implicated?