SEX IN HISTORY by Reay Tannahill; Stein & Day; 480 pages; $17.95
The human animal is goaded by twin appetites so similar that they serve as metaphors for each otheras food writers and Freudians are well aware. Reay Tannahill, a worldly and well-informed Scotswoman, has explored what recorded history tells about both, following Food in History (1973) with this levelheaded history of sex, drawn from sources as various as genetics, architecture, sociology, religion and etymology. As she tells it, the explosive word has a dual connotation: what people do with their private parts, and...
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