John R. Gregg (2)

Sex, The Illustrated History, Volume III, begins a courageous Historic culmination of human sexuality from the Enlightenment/ Industrial Revolution, to the current modern 21st Century.. Revealed are sexual practices and beliefs previously omitted or obscured from all historical telling. In a scathing condemnation of religion and its control of sex, the book explores complex relationships between spirituality and sexuality. . The book is leagues beyond the classic History of Sex, by Michael show more Foucault, written in the 1950's and includes Victorian sex, the evolution of "bad words", Hentai, Modern comics, internet, modern European sex, North and South Colonial sex, Sex slavery, LGBTQ, and homosexual histories show less

Sex, The Illustrated History, Volume II, begins a bold exploration of human sexuality from Asia, Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, ancient North and South America and Africa, moving into the modern world. Revealed are sexual practices and beliefs previously concealed or excluded from all historical telling. In a scathing condemnation of religion and its control of sex, the book explores complex relationships between spirituality and sexuality. The book is leagues beyond the show more classic History of Sex, by Michael Foucault, written in the 1950's and includes Japanese sex, Chinese sex, Indian sex, Native American sex and island sex. show less

Volume 3, The Modern World, was a most enjoyable read. I became acquainted with Gregg's first book, the original ("Sex, the Illustrated History: Through Time. Religion, and Culture", Volume 1) when it first came out...and have to admit I took advantage of our library as the cost was a bit off-putting...$179. But after enjoying that work, especially the literally hundreds of photographs/artwork and literary quotes that illustrated the text, I was convinced his following books were worth the show more price and have purchased them all. They are all illuminating and do not hesitate to confront the tough issues like church control of sex, gender in history, and perhaps most startling : Bisexuality through most cultures.

I found them absolutely refreshing. Where in any other publication can one find such a broad overview with such vivid and graphic illustrations. To those of you considering purchasing one one or all of Gregg's works...You will not be disappointed. I recognize a truly outstanding work when they see one. In fact I know the three volumes have been nominated for the Nobel Prize . show less

Reviewed by Gisela Dixon for Readers' Favorite

Sex, the Illustrated History: Through Time, Religion, and Culture by John R. Gregg is an interesting historical narrative of how sex was perceived and has evolved over time in society as a whole across various cultures and nations around the world since the beginning of the earliest civilizations. In Sex, the Illustrated History, Gregg provides us with a detailed narrative and analysis of sex from the point of view of the society, culture, and show more religion of those respective time periods.

In Part I of the book, Gregg provides an introduction to the topic, which is then followed by various chapters on the prehistory of sex, eroticism in societies both ancient and modern, the ancient Middle East and the sexual habits and traditions in places such as Egypt, Persia, Assyria; the role of sex in ancient Greek and Roman societies, Celtic and Germanic sex, sex in Jewish and Christian cultures including the introduction of the cult of the Devil or Satan and its associations with sexual energy; the witch hunts and the hypocrisy of the organized church regarding sex in medieval times, and sex in Islam and in the Islamic cultures such as Persia. The book also takes an in-depth look at the so-called taboos of homosexuality, bisexuality, etc. in ancient times.

I enjoyed reading Sex, the Illustrated History and thought there was a lot of interesting and sometimes little known information about these ancient cultures and the role of sex in their society. In many ways, the ancient people were much more open and overt in their sexual habits and this is clearly shown through carvings, pictures, paintings, art, etc. of those times. The book contains a lot of these images which really add to the flavor of the book and complement it very well. The writing style is to the point and casual and manages to cover a lot of ground considering the breadth of the subject matter. This is a book that I enjoyed reading and would recommend to others. show less