<div>&ldquo;A brilliant, disturbing study of anorexic behavior amongst medieval Italian female saints . . . original, controversial, superbly executed.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews Is there a resemblance between the contemporary anorexic teenager counting every calorie in her single-minded pursuit of thinness, and an ascetic medieval saint examining her every desire? Rudolph M. Bell suggests that the answer is yes. &ldquo;Everyone interested in anorexia nervosa . . . should skim this book or study it. It will make you realize how dependent upon culture the definition of disease is. I will never look at an anorexic patient in the same way again.&rdquo; &mdash;Howard Spiro, M.D., Gastroenterology &ldquo;[This] book is a first-class social history and is well-documented both in its historical and scientific portions.&rdquo; &mdash;Vern L. Bullough, American Historical Review &ldquo;A significant contribution to revisionist history, which re-examines events in light of feminist thought . . . Bell is particularly skillful in describing behavior within its time and culture, which would be bizarre by today&rsquo;s norms, without reducing it to the pathological.&rdquo; &mdash;Mary Lassance Parthun, Toronto Globe and Mail &ldquo;Bell is both enlightened and convincing. His book is impressively researched, easy to read, and utterly fascinating.&rdquo; &mdash;Sheila MacLeod, New Statesman</div>

Holy Anorexia

<div>How to Do It shows us sixteenth-century Italy from an entirely new perspective: through manuals which were staples in the households of middlebrow Italians merely trying to lead better lives. Addressing challenges such as how to conceive a boy, the manuals offered suggestions such as tying a tourniquet around your husband's left testicle. Or should you want to goad female desires, throw 90 grubs in a liter of olive oil, let steep in the sun for a week and apply liberally on the male anatomy. Bell's journey through booklets long dismissed by scholars as being of little literary value gives us a refreshing and surprisingly fun social history. "Lively and curious reading, particularly in its cascade of anecdote, offered in a breezy, cozy, journalistic style." —Lauro Martines, Times Literary Supplement "[Bell's] fascinating book is a window on a lost world far nearer to our own than we might imagine. . . . How pleasant to read his delightful, informative and often hilarious book." —Kate Saunders, The Independent "An extraordinary work which blends the learned with the frankly bizarre." —The Economist "Professor Bell has a sly sense of humor and an enviably strong stomach. . . . He wants to know how people actually behaved, not how the Church or philosophers or earnest humanists thought they should behave. I loved this book." —Christopher Stace, Daily Telegraph </div>

Rudolph M. Bell
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Books By Rudolph M. Bell (2 Books)

Holy Anorexia

How to Do It

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