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eserafina42's review
4.0
The royal court of Stuart England was definitely not boring - or consistent - where sexual mores were concerned, from the relatively dissolute court of James I to the more sedate one of his son, Charles I, and then, after the interregnum Cromwell's Puritan Commonwealth, veering wildly back to the notorious excesses of Charles II and his intimates. While all this was happening in the aristocracy and upper classes, however, apart from stricter laws and public policy during the Commonwealth that affected them, the lives - and sex lives - of the ordinary people went on with relatively little upheaval.
In the first part of Sex and Sexuality in Stuart Britain, Andrea Zuvich gives the interested reader a lively and informative guide through all strata of society where all aspects of sexuality are concerned, from marriage and divorce to prostitution, STDs, attitudes about pre- and extramarital sex, same-sex attraction, and pedophilia, to name a few. Spiced with anecdotes about people of all classes (often from court records), she portrays a society that in many ways had surprisingly modern attitudes about sex, while in other ways they seem to us to be incredibly backward. For instance, it was believed that a woman's pleasure was important in conceiving a healthy child, with the unfortunate flip side (occasionally voiced even in our own day) that if a woman became pregnant she could not have been raped. Even the Puritans, however, had a surprisingly healthy attitude towards sex in general, as long as it was kept within the bonds of matrimony.
In the second part of the book, Zuvich examines the sex lives of the Stuart monarchs themselves, which offer a great deal of material. While concluding that James I was almost certainly bisexual at the very least, she finds the rumors of same-sex relationships about the last three (William III, Mary II, and Anne) unlikely to have been true, and of course, Charles II, with his many mistresses and illegitimate children, provides a lot of grist for the mill.
All in all, I found this book to be a fascinating portrait of the times, carefully footnoted but narrated in an entertaining manner that keeps the interest of the educated layperson.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for. an honest review.
In the first part of Sex and Sexuality in Stuart Britain, Andrea Zuvich gives the interested reader a lively and informative guide through all strata of society where all aspects of sexuality are concerned, from marriage and divorce to prostitution, STDs, attitudes about pre- and extramarital sex, same-sex attraction, and pedophilia, to name a few. Spiced with anecdotes about people of all classes (often from court records), she portrays a society that in many ways had surprisingly modern attitudes about sex, while in other ways they seem to us to be incredibly backward. For instance, it was believed that a woman's pleasure was important in conceiving a healthy child, with the unfortunate flip side (occasionally voiced even in our own day) that if a woman became pregnant she could not have been raped. Even the Puritans, however, had a surprisingly healthy attitude towards sex in general, as long as it was kept within the bonds of matrimony.
In the second part of the book, Zuvich examines the sex lives of the Stuart monarchs themselves, which offer a great deal of material. While concluding that James I was almost certainly bisexual at the very least, she finds the rumors of same-sex relationships about the last three (William III, Mary II, and Anne) unlikely to have been true, and of course, Charles II, with his many mistresses and illegitimate children, provides a lot of grist for the mill.
All in all, I found this book to be a fascinating portrait of the times, carefully footnoted but narrated in an entertaining manner that keeps the interest of the educated layperson.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for. an honest review.
annarella's review
4.0
It's a well researched, detailed and entertaining book that made me learn a lot of new things enjoying what I read.
I liked the style of writing and how the book is organised.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I liked the style of writing and how the book is organised.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
eweidl's review
4.0
“So, get your tankard of cock ale, sit back in your cane chair by the crackling fire, and as the smells of wood smoke and tobacco from a nearby pipe mingle with the hearty scent of freshly baked pigeon pie wafting in from next door, let us go back in time to the Stuart period…”
In this book, Zuvich tracks the macro-trends in sex and sexuality in Stuart-era Britain, using examples of real people to provide touching or hilarious illustrations thereof. She discusses the opinions of the general population towards various forms of then-considered “deviant” sexual practices, various aspects of motherhood, lust, and love. This book reminded me vividly of the Love exhibition that I was able to see at the Louvre Lens a couple of years ago, where examples of graphic pornography from this era were on display for those willing to look. In the second part of the book, Zuvich briefly examines the sexual lives of the various Stuart monarchs (as well as Oliver Cromwell in the interregnum period).
Zuvich’s voice is fresh and witty. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading this, which is very high praise coming from me. While I found her use of exclamation points a bit too liberal at various points in the book, this only served to highlight her enthusiasm and thorough knowledge of the material. This book was a broad overview of the period. It would not serve to make anyone an expert on Stuart era sexual politics, but serves as an excellent introduction to the era and a highly amusing read. A few times in the book, Zuvich talked about a personnage for one paragraph and then expected the reader to remember their names 50 pages later. However, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in giggling over the many oddities of the Stuart era British.
In this book, Zuvich tracks the macro-trends in sex and sexuality in Stuart-era Britain, using examples of real people to provide touching or hilarious illustrations thereof. She discusses the opinions of the general population towards various forms of then-considered “deviant” sexual practices, various aspects of motherhood, lust, and love. This book reminded me vividly of the Love exhibition that I was able to see at the Louvre Lens a couple of years ago, where examples of graphic pornography from this era were on display for those willing to look. In the second part of the book, Zuvich briefly examines the sexual lives of the various Stuart monarchs (as well as Oliver Cromwell in the interregnum period).
Zuvich’s voice is fresh and witty. I laughed out loud multiple times while reading this, which is very high praise coming from me. While I found her use of exclamation points a bit too liberal at various points in the book, this only served to highlight her enthusiasm and thorough knowledge of the material. This book was a broad overview of the period. It would not serve to make anyone an expert on Stuart era sexual politics, but serves as an excellent introduction to the era and a highly amusing read. A few times in the book, Zuvich talked about a personnage for one paragraph and then expected the reader to remember their names 50 pages later. However, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in giggling over the many oddities of the Stuart era British.
farahmendlesohn's review against another edition
3.0
I was very disappointed by this book. In part it’s because I’m not the right audience and I accept that — the clue is in all the exclamation marks—but also because it’s just not that good.
This is less a book in the way I understand “a book” and more a compendium of anecdotes on themes/topics: a Horrible History for adults. What that means is that having made a point, we then get say four paragraphs of mini stories about x or y person/couples. There is close to zero analysis, and once or twice the stories don’t fit the section. What this means is that despite the intention of the author we get less a better understanding of the Stuarts than we do a magazine of Stuart Hot Gossip (this is true even when using cases from the courts). The style of writing (those exclamation marks) reinforces this.
But what really really irritated was the old fashioned heterosexism. I totally accept that Stuarts did not have sexual identities the way we do. But if you are going to say that you have to interrogate *everything*. You can’t just say Queen Anne would have been horrified by tribadism without considering that we (for example) know that virginity emphasising cultures tend to solve the tension by tightly restricting what is defined as sex (see US teens in the True Love Waits cult). The same is presumably true in a strongly homosocual but also strongly homophobic culture: you can avoid being thought of as x by staying the right side of the line. But the author basically dismisses Newton as just a woman hater (doesn’t mention the close relationship with a man, leading to nervous breakdown) and fails utterly to mention Sir John Finch and his life long companion Sir Thomas Baines: the two may never once have engaged in the act of sodomy but to erase them with a mere ‘we can never know’ is, particularly given the nature of this book, depressing.
Coming back to add a note: one oddity is that the art work discussed isn’t printed in the book (fair enough, it’s expensive) and the art included is mostly not discussed
This is less a book in the way I understand “a book” and more a compendium of anecdotes on themes/topics: a Horrible History for adults. What that means is that having made a point, we then get say four paragraphs of mini stories about x or y person/couples. There is close to zero analysis, and once or twice the stories don’t fit the section. What this means is that despite the intention of the author we get less a better understanding of the Stuarts than we do a magazine of Stuart Hot Gossip (this is true even when using cases from the courts). The style of writing (those exclamation marks) reinforces this.
But what really really irritated was the old fashioned heterosexism. I totally accept that Stuarts did not have sexual identities the way we do. But if you are going to say that you have to interrogate *everything*. You can’t just say Queen Anne would have been horrified by tribadism without considering that we (for example) know that virginity emphasising cultures tend to solve the tension by tightly restricting what is defined as sex (see US teens in the True Love Waits cult). The same is presumably true in a strongly homosocual but also strongly homophobic culture: you can avoid being thought of as x by staying the right side of the line. But the author basically dismisses Newton as just a woman hater (doesn’t mention the close relationship with a man, leading to nervous breakdown) and fails utterly to mention Sir John Finch and his life long companion Sir Thomas Baines: the two may never once have engaged in the act of sodomy but to erase them with a mere ‘we can never know’ is, particularly given the nature of this book, depressing.
Coming back to add a note: one oddity is that the art work discussed isn’t printed in the book (fair enough, it’s expensive) and the art included is mostly not discussed
annarella's review against another edition
4.0
It's a well researched, detailed and entertaining book that made me learn a lot of new things enjoying what I read.
I liked the style of writing and how the book is organised.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I liked the style of writing and how the book is organised.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
accospoot's review against another edition
4.0
A great and thorough resource looking at a variety of sexual practices, morality and legality of which, throughout the Stuart period!
caidyn's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
CW: discussing historical rape, pedophilia, and intimate partner violence
This was so much fun to read. The chapters were relatively short. Part One covers everything you might want to know about sex and sexuality in this time period, covering LGBTQ+ (although not called that to keep with period accurate terminology), race, gender, etc topics. It was expansive and I loved it. The second part of the book talks about the Stuart rulers and their sex lives, which was just as fun to read about. Honestly, a great book! I'd definitely have this finished copy on my shelf.
CW: discussing historical rape, pedophilia, and intimate partner violence
This was so much fun to read. The chapters were relatively short. Part One covers everything you might want to know about sex and sexuality in this time period, covering LGBTQ+ (although not called that to keep with period accurate terminology), race, gender, etc topics. It was expansive and I loved it. The second part of the book talks about the Stuart rulers and their sex lives, which was just as fun to read about. Honestly, a great book! I'd definitely have this finished copy on my shelf.
piscespaperbacks's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
2.0
This book is a string of anecdotes strung together over 200 pages with very few hard number facts to back it up
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