A History of Virility

In these original essays, an international group of scholars, including Claude Thomasset, Jean-Paul Bertaud, and Andrè Rauch, follow the socio-historical evolution of virility, as opposed to masculinity, to unsettle popular accounts of politics and culture. The book begins with ancient conceptions of the male gender, which persisted, with significant alterations, for centuries. Virility foundered during the Enlightenment, and then declined in the nineteenth century. Born out of defensiveness, twentieth-century conceptions of maleness embody a "virility on edge," which, when considered in relation to events, adds fascinating depth to our understanding of history.