A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis - Hardcover

Friedman, David M.; Friedman

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684853205 ISBN 13: 9780684853208

Publisher: The Free Press, 2001

Synopsis

Whether enemy or ally, demon or god, the source of satisfaction or the root of all earthly troubles, the penis has forced humanity to wrestle with its enduring mysteries. Here, in an enlightening and entertaining cultural study, is a book that gives context to the central role of the penis in Western civilization. A man can hold his manhood in his hand, but who is really gripping whom? Is the penis the best in man -- or the beast? How is man supposed to use it? And when does that use become abuse? Of all the bodily organs, only the penis forces man to confront such contradictions: something insistent yet reluctant, a tool that creates but also destroys, a part of the body that often seems apart from the body. This is the conundrum that makes the penis both hero and villain in a drama that shapes every man -- and mankind along with it. In "A Mind of Its Own," David M. Friedman shows that the penis is more than a body part. It is an idea, a conceptual but flesh-and-blood measuring stick of man's place in the world. That men have a penis is a scientific fact; how they think about it, feel about it, and use it is not. It is possible to identify the key moments in Western history when a new idea of the penis addressed the larger mystery of man's relationship with it and changed forever the way that organ was conceived of and put to use. "A Mind of Its Own" brilliantly distills this complex and largely unexamined story. Deified by the pagan cultures of the ancient world and demonized by the early Roman church, the organ was later secularized by pioneering anatomists such as Leonardo da Vinci. After being measured "scientifically" in an effort to subjugate some races whileelevating others, the organ was psychoanalyzed by Sigmund Freud. As a result, the penis assumed a paradigmatic role in psychology -- whether the patient was equipped with the organ or envied those who were. Now, after being politicized by feminism and exploited in countless ways by pop culture, the penis has been medicalized. As no one has before him, Friedman shows how the arrival of erection industry products such as Viagra is more than a health or business story. It is the latest -- and perhaps final -- chapter in one of the longest sagas in human history: the story of man's relationship with his penis. "A Mind of Its Own" charts the vicissitudes of that relationship through its often amusing, occasionally alarming, and never boring course. With intellectual rigor and a healthy dose of wry humor, David M. Friedman serves up one of the most thought-provoking, significant, and readable cultural works in years.

About this title

Review:

Anthony Holden author of "William Shakespeare: The Man Behind The Genius"As erudite as it is entertaining, David M. Friedman's biography of a body part is also the history of an idea, a study of a symbol, a bold journey through the treacherous terrain between the mind and the most mutinous outpost of its empire. Both humorous and harrowing, "A Mind of Its Own" is every bit as provocative as its subject matter demands.

Synopsis:

An offbeat and incisive cultural history charts the central role of the penis in Western culture in a study that explores the penis as an "idea" rather than a biological imperative in different eras and civilizations. 20,000 first printing.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Free Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0684853205
• ISBN 13: 9780684853208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 358