Butts: A Backstory

In her book "Butts: A Backstory," Heather Radke explores the cultural history of butts, from their evolution to their objectification in modern society. She discusses the significance of race in the appreciation and desirability of butts, and how larger ideas about power, control, liberation, and race affect our private feelings about ourselves and others.

Format: Hardback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 19 January 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

“Lively and thorough, Butts is the best kind of nonfiction—the kind that forces you to see something ordinary through completely new eyes.” — Esquire ,Best Books of 2022 So Far “One of the years most ingenious and eye-opening cultural studies.” — Publishers Weekly ,Best Books of 2022 Whether we love them or hate them,think theyre sexy,think theyre strange,consider them too big,too small,or anywhere in between,humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans,critical to our evolution and survival,and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex,desire,comedy,shame. A womans butt,in particular,is forever being assessed,criticized,and objectified,from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter,essayist,and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out. Spanning nearly two centuries,this “whip-smart” ( Publishers Weekly ,starred review) cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s,the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lots “Baby Got Back” and the mountains of Arizona,where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Along the way,she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed; models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women; and the fitness gurus who created fads like “Buns of Steel.” She also examines the central importance of race through figures like Sarah Bartmann,once known as the “Venus Hottentot,” Josephin.

“Lively and thorough, Butts is the best kind of nonfiction—the kind that forces you to see something ordinary through completely new eyes.” — Esquire ,Best Books of 2022 So Far “One of the years most ingenious and eye-opening cultural studies.” — Publishers Weekly ,Best Books of 2022 Whether we love them or hate them,think theyre sexy,think theyre strange,consider them too big,too small,or anywhere in between,humans have a complicated relationship with butts. It is a body part unique to humans,critical to our evolution and survival,and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex,desire,comedy,shame. A womans butt,in particular,is forever being assessed,criticized,and objectified,from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter,essayist,and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out. Spanning nearly two centuries,this “whip-smart” ( Publishers Weekly ,starred review) cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s,the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lots “Baby Got Back” and the mountains of Arizona,where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. Along the way,she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed; models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women; and the fitness gurus who created fads like “Buns of Steel.” She also examines the central importance of race through figures like Sarah Bartmann,once known as the “Venus Hottentot,” Josephin.

Weight: 466g
Dimension: 149 x 221 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781982135485