Book Review

Comparative/World

This book by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks stands at the intersection of two relatively new but quickly advancing fields of history: the history of sexuality and world history. In the burgeoning field of the history of sexuality, few scholars have attempted the challenging task of producing textbooks to orient students. Many of us who write in the field spend a seemingly excruciating amount of time and energy simply defining sexuality. Further, many of us who focus on sex in the early modern world feel marginalized within a field that itself is seen as marginal to the broader historical enterprise. As the world historian has to deal with many different historical contexts, world and comparative histories can be difficult to write and cumbersome to read. Wiesner-Hanks has accomplished a remarkable task: she has written a highly informative and readable, even enjoyable textbook on sexuality in the early modern world.

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The author argues that the colonial experience of cross-cultural contact shaped a series of changes in the ways in which sexuality was regulated and practiced throughout the world. According to Wiesner-Hanks, the spread of Christianity to the farthest reaches of the globe changed the ways in which people related to each other sexually. The author does a superb job dealing with a vast array of literature, and she adeptly avoids the obvious trap of developing a Eurocentric analysis. In fact, Wiesner-Hanks shows a great ability to read and analyze the African, Asian, Latin American, and North American situations.

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