16th century
A01=Rudolph M. Bell
anatomy
Author_Rudolph M. Bell
Category=NHD
Category=NHTB
child rearing
childbirth
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
europe
family and marriage
history
households
husbands
impotence
infertility
intercourse
italian culture
italians
italy
labor
leading better lives
life skills
manuals
married couples
menstruation
midwives
miscarriage
nursing
pregnancy
renaissance
sex
sexual practices
social studies
spouses
wives
Product details
- ISBN 9780226042107
- Weight: 709g
- Dimensions: 16 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 29 Mar 1999
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Hope to conceive a boy? Tie a tourniquet around your husband's left testicle. Pregnant and fear a weak or malformed baby? Frequent hearty laughter should reduce the risk. And if you're a teenager of good repute, avoid dancing at all costs and stay away from wine, cosmetics, and flashy dress. What may seem quirky to today's readers certainly wasn't to its original audience - Renaissance Italians. They read advice manuals prodigiously, seeking guidance from the latest books by best-selling alchemists and snake-oil peddlers like Mrs. Isabella Cortese and Dr. Leonardo Fioravanti with an avidity not bestowed even on a Dante or a Machiavelli. This work shows 16th-century Italy from an alternative perspective: through manuals which were staples in the households of middlebrow Italians just trying to lead a better life. Rudolph M. Bell uncovers a culture much like our own in which people sought advice for everything from reining in a wayward spouse to running an efficient household.
Italians who faced such timeless challenges turned to these books, which were written specifically for families of moderate means, complete with indexes, tables of contents, and marginal summaries making them easy to consult as problems arose.
