Sex in history

Foreword. 1 Eros and Thanatos. Book 1 - The pattern is made. 2 Mediaeval sexual behaviour. 3 Mediaeval sexual ideal. 4 Jealous and indulgent gods. 5 Pure desire. 6 Sex and heresy. Book 2 - The pattern developed. 7 Fay ce que vouldras. 8 The school of Christ. 9 Sense and sensuality. 10 The romantic quest. 11 Sex denied. Book 3 - Origins of the pattern. 12 Sex as sacrament. 13 From shame to guilt. 14 The minor themes. Book 4 - Present and future. 15 Modern morality. 16 The rule of the dead. Appendix A - The present state of English law. Appendix B - Theories of matriarchy and patriarchy

'In Mr. Taylor's profound and provocative book we are shown that a study of sexual attitudes is basic to historical research, since these are the shapers of institutions and the index of social change. That there is a history of sexuality is shown in the fact that sexual behaviors seem grotesque from another point in time--the Greek attitudes toward homosexuality, the ferocious hostility to sex of Dark Age Chriistianity, the fervent chastity of Petrarchan and courtly love, andf the hilarious extremes of Victorian prudishness which did not allow the books written by a man and a woman to be adjacent on a shelf unless they were married to one another....'

Hardcover