{"product_id":"butts-a-backstory-heather-radke","title":"Butts: A Backstory;  Heather Radke","description":"\u003cdiv data-testid=\"description\" class=\"BookPageMetadataSection__description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedContent\" tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedContent__text TruncatedContent__text--large TruncatedContent__text--expanded\" data-testid=\"contentContainer\" tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eWhether 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. 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. 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. But why? In\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eButts: A Backstory,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ereporter, essayist, and\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eRadioLab\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003econtributing editor Heather Radke is determined to find out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpanning nearly two centuries, this “whip-smart” (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. Along the way, she meets evolutionary biologists who study how butts first developed; models whose measurements have defined jean sizing for millions of women; and the fitness gurus who created fads like “Buns of Steel.” She also examines the central importance of race through figures like Sarah Bartmann, once known as the “Venus Hottentot,” Josephine Baker, Jennifer Lopez, and other women of color whose butts have been idolized, envied, and despised.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePart deep dive reportage, part personal journey, part cabinet of curiosities,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eButts\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eis an entertaining, illuminating, and thoughtful examination of why certain silhouettes come in and out of fashion—and how larger ideas about race, control, liberation, and power affect our most private feelings about ourselves and others.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovember 29, 2022\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"TruncatedContent__text TruncatedContent__text--medium TruncatedContent__text--expanded\" data-testid=\"contentContainer\" tabindex=\"-1\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"DetailsLayoutRightParagraph__widthConstrained\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\"\u003eHeather Radke is a contributing editor and reporter at Radiolab, the Peabody-award winning podcast from WNYC. She has written essays, criticism, and reported pieces for The Paris Review Daily, The Believer, Guernica, Topic, Longreads, The White Review, and others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe holds an MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University, where she teaches creative writing. She also founded the Incarcerated Writer’s Initiative there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore relocating to New York, she lived in Chicago for almost a decade, where she worked at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, wrote about social practice art and the history of Chicago, and lectured on Hull-House, Jane Addams, historic house museums, and innovative curatorial practice at historic sites.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"FREEAIR Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52945721426242,"sku":null,"price":8.63,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/8735\/3154\/files\/butts.jpg?v=1776702548","url":"https:\/\/shop.freeairbooks.com\/products\/butts-a-backstory-heather-radke","provider":"FREEAIR Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}