Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History

by Jane Caplan

Book Overview

Despite 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 tattoo's European and American history from antiquity to the present day. In the process, it rescues tattoos...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691057230
• ISBN13: 9780691057231
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Art on the human skin

Anyone interested in a serious understanding of the cultural importance of tattooing in the West would benefit from reading this book. (Caplan is now a distinguished professor of history at Oxford University.) If you're looking for something superficial and sensational, look elsewhere. This book offers much richness between its covers.