Of Beards and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair

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Review ------ “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) Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) About the Author ---------------- Christopher Oldstone-Moore is a senior lecturer in history at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Read more ( javascript:void(0) )