{"product_id":"written-on-the-body-the-tattoo-in-european-and-american-history","title":"Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History","description":"\u003cp\u003eDespite the social sciences growing fascination with tattooing--and the immense popularity of tattoos themselves--the practice has not left much of a historical record. And  until very recently  there was no good context for writing a serious history of tattooing in the West. This collection exposes  for the first time  the richness of the tattoos European and American history from antiquity to the present day. In the process  it rescues tattoos from their stereotypical and sensationalized association with criminality.  The tattoo has long hovered in a space between the cosmetic and the punitive. Throughout its history  the status of the tattoo has been complicated by its dual association with slavery and penal practices on the one hand and exotic or forbidden sexuality on the other. The tattoo appears often as an involuntary stigma  sometimes as a self-imposed marker of identity  and occasionally as a beautiful corporal decoration.  This volume analyzes the tattoos fluctuating  often uncomfortable position from multiple angles. Individual chapters explore fascinating segments of its history--from the metaphorical meanings of tattooing in Celtic society to the class-related commodification of the body in Victorian Britain  from tattooed entertainers in Germany to tattooing and piercing as self-expression in the contemporary United States. But they also accumulate to form an expansive  textured view of permanent bodily modification in the West.  By combining empirical history  powerful cultural analysis  and a highly readable style  this volume both draws on and propels the ongoing effort to write a meaningful cultural history of the body. The contributors  representing several disciplines  have all conducted extensive original research into the Western tattoo. Together  they have produced an unrivalled account of its history. They are  in addition to the editor  Clare Anderson  Susan Benson  James Bradley  Ian Duffield  Juliet Fleming  Alan Govenar  Harriet Guest  Mark Gustafson  C. P. Jones  Charles MacQuarrie  Hamish Maxwell-Stewart  Stephan Oettermann  Jennipher A. Rosecrans  and Abby Schrader.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44962647113781,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691057230","price":35.73,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691057231.jpg?v=1770396734","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/written-on-the-body-the-tattoo-in-european-and-american-history","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}