Review
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“A finely detailed, borderline obsessive history. . . .
Oldstone-Moore is a sensitive observer, who dispenses ironies
with a light hand; tonsorially enthralled as he may be, he also
seems in on the joke. His style is clipping and spry, free from
the haughty grandiloquence and leaden jargoneering that
characterizes much academic writing. . . . His long view on our
unshaven history is likely to stand unchallenged for some time.”
(New York Times)
“Engaging . . . Readers will be enlightened as Oldstone-Moore
links facial hair to gender perceptions, religious doctrine,
discipline, philosophical schools of thought, and more.
. . . This is a great book for anyone who’s ever pondered why
Jesus is portrayed with a beard, wondered about the origin of
Hitler’s and Stalin’s mustaches, speculated why the Amish grow
beards but shave their moustaches, or realized that no U.S.
presidential candidate has sported facial hair since Dewey lost
to Truman.”
(Publishers Weekly, starred review)
“A surprisingly interesting study of mankind’s love-hate
relationship with facial hair.” (Wall Street Journal)
“In Of Beards and Men, the historian Oldstone-Moore plumbs the
many meanings of facial hair in Western history. . . . He writes
well, and his erudition is impressive, enabling readers to learn
all kinds of interesting things from this zigzag chronicle, which
is basically a history of Western civilization as written on the
faces of its leading men. Who knew, for example, that in 1968
Fidel Castro’s regime barred facial hair for students at Havana
University?” (Washington Post)
“Much like growing a beard itself, the investment of time and
patience (not to mention the occasional recombing) can be
appreciated in hind. We learn that ancient Sumerians and
Egyptians shaved to distinguish bearded lords from clean-shaven
priests, and most of the gods of ancient Greece were portrayed as
beardless while mortals were bearded. Oldstone-Moore devotes an
entire chapter to explaining why Jesus was sometimes depicted
with a beard and sometimes not—and it makes a lot of sense. . . .
Of Beards and Men may not completely crack the code on facial
hair, but once you've read it, it's unlikely you'll take any
beard—or mustache—at face value again.” (Los Angeles Times)
“For everyone with a hirsute family member, a bearded patriarch,
a fuzzy metro-sexual, here’s a great gift, a not-entirely-serious
account of why and when men grow facial hair. . . . Of Beards and
Men is a history of beards, which begins in ancient times and
works its way to the modern day, demonstrating when beards were
cool and when they were not.” (NPR Weekend)
“[A] sweeping work of follicular anthropology.” (Slate)
“Oldstone-Moore has a fantastic story to tell. . . He sees things
other historians ignore and makes useful, even original
connections. On Hitler and Stalin, he suggests that ‘an analysis
of mustaches might have alerted the Western allies to the real
possibility of German-Soviet agreement.’ Perhaps wary of being
pigeonholed, he supplies two author photographs, one with a beard
and one without. It’s typical of the care, attention and dry wit
to be found throughout this wholly admirable book.”
(Daily Mail, book of the week)
“Symbolically speaking, human beings have been tugging on beards
for as long as we’ve had tools to shave them with.
Oldstone-Moore’s book comes at a time of newly sprouted interest
in the meaning of facial hair. . . . The social and political
consequences of beardedness are at the heart of Oldstone-Moore’s
curiosity-packed, if rather dry, scholarly study of his subject.”
(Boston Globe)
“Entertaining.” (Times London)
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About the Author
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Christopher Oldstone-Moore is a senior lecturer in history at
Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
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