Alfred C. Kinsey by James H Jones

Alfred C. Kinsey by James H Jones

In this brilliant, groundbreaking biography, twenty years in the making, James H. Jones presents a moving and even shocking portrait of the man who pierced the veil of reticence surrounding human sexuality. Jones shows that the public image Alfred Kinsey cultivated of disinterested biologist was in fact a carefully crafted public persona. By any measure he was an extraordinary man—and a man with secrets. Drawing upon never before disclosed facts about Kinsey's childhood, Jones traces the roots of Kinsey's scholarly interest in human sexuality to his tortured upbringing. Between the sexual tensions of the culture and Kinsey's devoutly religious family, Jones depicts Kinsey emerging from childhood with psychological trauma but determined to rescue humanity from the emotional and sexual repression he had suffered. New facts about his marriage, family life, and relationships with students and colleagues enrich this portrait of the complicated, troubled man who transformed the state of public discourse on human sexuality.

"The Jones biography remains definitive" Elaine Showalter, The Times Literary Supplement "Jones's biography-forthright, scholarly, original, magisterial -constitutes an 'atom bomb' of its own. Its fall-out will be enduring." Roy Porter, The Times Higher Education Supplement "Without being sensationalist, this is a sensational book." Laura Cumming, The Guardian "...a magisterial account of a driven man and the repressed culture in which he had to work." Blake Morrison, Books of the Year, Independent on Sunday "This painstaking biography has explained why Kinsey had a driving need to explain to men everywhere that whatever they did about sex, whatever they imagined about sex, they were still part of the human race and not hateful outsiders unfit to call themselves men." Claire Rayner, The Observer "...a fascinating account..." Veronica Groocock, New Statesman "[A] masterly biography..." James Bone, The Times "James H. Jones' life, first published in 1997, is the definitive account... Jones shows that 'Prok' was a repressed homosexual, fixated on masochistic masturbation who began his career as an authority on the gall wasp, a tiny, flightless insect... Jones paints a compelling portrait of a model of mid-American respectability whose secret life found its expression in ground-breaking research." Robert McCrum, The Observer 13 February 2005

James H. Jones is the award-winning author of Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment and Alfred C. Kinsey: A Life. An independent scholar, he lives in San Francisco, California.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780393327243
ISBN 10	0393327248
Title	Alfred C. Kinsey
Author	James H Jones
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	WW Norton & Co
Year published	2005-01-18
Number of pages	938
Prizes	Short-listed for Pulitzer Prize 1998
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable