History Of Celibacy Tpb

First time in paperback: An ambitious and wide-ranging history (The New Yorker) of 3000 years of celibacy from the vestal virgins of Rome to contemporary athletes. Celibacy is a worldwide practice that is often adopted rarely discussed. Now in Elizabeth Abbott''s fascinating and wide-ranging history it is examined in all its various forms: shaping religious lives conditioning athletes and shamans surfacing in classical poetry and camp literature resonating in the voices of castrati and perme-ating ancient mythology. Found in every society of the past practiced by both the anonymous and the legendary (St. Catherine Joan of Arc Leonardo da Vinci Elizabeth I Gandhi) celibacy has as many stories as adherents and Abbott weaves them into a provocative seamless tapestry that brings history alive.