Face Value: The Politics of Beauty

First published in 1984, Face Value confronts the pervasive power of beauty through art and literature, as well as interviews with men and women with varying perspectives on the subject. The topics covered range widely: the history of beauty from the Greeks to the present; the pathology of beauty: how women have been willing to harm themselves, mentally and physically, to achieve ‘beauty’; the language we use to speak of beauty, and its implications; our attitudes towards beauty, as examine...