Spanning nearly two centuries, this 'whip-smart' ( Publishers Weekly, starred review) cultural history takes us from the performance halls of 19th-century London to the aerobics studios of the 1980s, the music video set of Sir Mix-a-Lot's 'Baby Got Back' and the mountains of Arizona, where every year humans and horses race in a feat of gluteal endurance. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out.

A woman's butt, in particular, is forever being assessed, criticized, and objectified, from anxious self-examinations trying on jeans in department store dressing rooms to enduring crass remarks while walking down a street or high school hallways. It is a body part unique to humans, critical to our evolution and survival, and yet it has come to signify so much more: sex, desire, comedy, shame. Whether we love them or hate them, think they're sexy, think they're strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts. But why? In Butts: A Backstory, reporter, essayist, and RadioLab contributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out.'-īook Synopsis 'Winning, cheeky, and illuminating.What appears initially as a folly with a look-at-this cover and title becomes, thanks to Radke's intelligence and curiosity, something much meatier, entertaining, and wise.' - The Washington Post 'Lively and thorough, Butts is the best kind of nonfiction.' - Esquire, Best Books of 2022 A 'carefully researched and reported work of cultural history' ( The New York Times) that explores how one body part has influenced the female-and human-experience for centuries, and what that obsession reveals about our lives today. About the Book 'Whether we love them or hate them, think they're sexy, think they're strange, consider them too big, too small, or anywhere in between, humans have a complicated relationship with butts.

Heather radke books