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| Clean. A History of Personal Hygiene and Purity | Buy a book...
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| Author(s): | V. Smith |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| ISBN: | 9780199297795 |
| Format: | hardback |
| 457pp | |
| Price: | £16.99 |
| Review Date: | 22 May 2007 |
| Review: | Here Virginia Smith looks at the global history of human body-care from Neolithic times to the present – from pre-historic grooming to new Age medicine, from mediaeval ascetics to present-day cosmetics. The story begins with our basic dislike of slime, dirt and stickiness – our response to taste, touch and smells – by Neolithic times people were developing artificial cleansing skills. Virginia Smith looks in detail at the Greeks and Romans, the people of medieval times, the Protestant ethics and on to civil cleanliness and the body beautiful. She gives a fascinating and authoritative history of the interrelated histories of grooming, cosmetics, public health, ritual purification, and preventive medicine and cleanliness. |