 A guided tour through the boudoirs of history. Anecdotes from the author of Napoleon's Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped (HarperCollins, napoleonsprivates.com) and Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists.
By Tony Perrottet |
The Man Who Would Bed King? James Buchanan was the only bachelor president, William Rufus King the only single vice president. Were they Victorian chums or something more?
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Love on a Battlefield The Greeks didn't care that Alexander the Great had male lovers, but they were shocked that these men were adults.
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The Versailles Boudoir The sexual behavior of powerful women has long been attacked. Marie Antoinette probably suffered the worse.
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A Romp Through Time A brief history of modern love's seminal moments.
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Body Issues Custer's tomb is in West Point, New York. That doesn't mean his remains are.
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What Happens in the Colonies... To men traveling through the British colonies, everything was new. Especially in the bedroom.
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Limp Laws Think the divorce process is a nightmare today? Try having the Catholic Church decide whether your impotence is natural or a witch's spell.
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Location, Location, Location! People troubled by real estate today have plenty of company in history, from Akhibe in 2000 B.C. to Orwell in the '40s.
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The Vatican Hall of Shame Did you hear about the scandal in the Catholic Church? The one from 904? And 955? And 1032?...
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Is That a Stovepipe Hat or Are You Just Happy to See Me? Was Lincoln gay? Well, he was a theatergoer...
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Miss Cleo Cleopatra: The world's first woman to be to be considered beautiful on the inside?
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Dress Code Seeking revenge on the head of, say, the FBI? Accuse him of cross-dressing.
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How Do You Say 'Quickie' in French? We knew Napoleon was short in stature, but three minutes in the sack? Jeez!
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Ball to the Wall We all love thinking Hitler had just one testicle. Now I don't want to rain on your parade, but...
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Proud Mary Nobody can ask Mary if she was indeed a virgin, but you do the math.
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Chefs' Secrets Don't hate on tofurkey — chefs have been making fake food for 1,600 years.
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The Dinner Party from Hell Your boss didn't invent the awkward dinner party. That honor belongs to Emperor Domitian.
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| Fast Food Nation A quick history of fast food. From the Romans to Delmonico's legendary 8-courses-in-an-hour lunch.
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Dated Reference Don't blame your wife for that lame 'over the hill' birthday card: Blame the Romans.
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| Dinner and a Show When it comes to over-the-top theme restaurants, Vegas has nothing on Germany.
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Dracula's Charity Ball Think any charity is good charity? Consider Vlad the Impaler's community outreach.
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Faith-Based Initiative The French Revolution spawned some bizarre reforms: the 100-minute hour; the 10-day week; the Supreme Being.
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The Cooking Class Celebrity chefs are common today, but only because of a 19th-century quirk in how food was served.
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| The Sky's the Limit Rich Americans never let a little economic collapse spoil their fun. Consider 1931's Fête Moderne...
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Weimar Club-Hopping Sex, drugs, and cabarets: 1920s Berlin was the party capital of the world.
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Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 248 A.D. Who were the first to line up outside a stadium all night long? Not football fans, but third-century Romans.
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Black Tie and Stetson For a young Buffalo Bill, leading rich New Yorkers through the West was a great way to test his act.
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A Heady Affair How did the French mark the end of the Terror? With parties, fashion, and 'dos, of course!
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Fire Hazard Our new leaders are celebrating, but hopefully not setting themselves on fire (right, King Charles VI?).
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The Class of 1250 Think the Kappa boys know how to party? You should have seen Oxford in the 1200s.
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Political Party One Washington night in 1828, mobs smashed china, destroyed furniture, and passed out drunk. A bar fight? Nope: Andrew Jackson's inauguration.
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The Renaissance Art Reception Need a dinner party menu? Try a scene from Ovid, with two roosters posed as Ulysses and his father.
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Great Minds Drink Alike Symposia today are filled with professors, panels, and papers. In Plato's time, it was brains, booze, and boys.
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Olympic Fever Beijing is worried about pollution at its Olympic Games; ancient Greeks had to worry about spontaneous orgies at theirs.
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Divine Drunks The ideal Roman night? Drunk and naked in the woods.
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Partying With Pablo Anyone could give the caterer the wrong date. But when you have Gertrude Stein and Henri Rousseau coming over...?
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R.S.V.P. At Truman Capote's Black and White Ball, Frank Sinatra wouldn't stay and his Kansas friends wouldn't leave. The first in a series on history's famous fetes.
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Health Nuts Forget Atkins. Forget Weight Watchers. Try the Renaissance Diet.
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The Holy Guide to Coital Positions The Church was OK with sex in the Middle Ages, so long as it was done in a very particular way.
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Orgy Etiquette Caligula was bald, pale, and hairy. But at his orgies, he could have any woman he wanted.
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Make-Your-Own Condoms Gold-beater skin. English raincoat. French letter. There were many historic names for the condom, and just as many origin myths.
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Columbus Discovers the Clitoris Not long after the discovery of America, another Columbus was exploring more uncharted territory.
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The Curse of Self-Abuse Why does masturbation have a bad rap? Blame a 1712 pamphlet.
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Horsing Around With Catherine the Great Catherine the Great loved horses. But did one really crush her in the throes of passion?
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Pornography of the Kitchen In The Futurist Cookbook, F.T. Marinetti argued that food is Art: Less pasta and more sandpaper.
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When George Met Sally Martha was George Washington's first wife, but she may not have been his first lady.
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Aphrodisiac Attack Love today is candy and flowers. In the Enlightenment it was rams' testicles and Spanish fly.
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The Fig Leaf of Florence Critics complained the 'nose' on David was too large. (They weren't referring to his face.)
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Quick, Jeeves, Cover the Piano Legs! For a time, both America and Britain thought the other was aroused by cabinetry.
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For a Good Time, Try Revolutionary Paris No need for Fodor's — visitors to 18th century Paris had their own guide to the city's carnal delights.
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| Ancient Greek Temples of Sex Nothing gets a classical scholar’s heart pumping like the sacred prostitutes of Corinth.
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Hints of Oak and Witch's Urine? In 16th century Italy, wine tainted by witches' urine called for desperate measures.
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Scent of a Führer How Hitler's farting problem may have been his undoing.
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When Syphilis Was Trés Chic In Belle Epoque Paris, syphilis was all the rage.
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| First Night Jitters For medieval brides, marriage meant a night with their feudal masters. Or so Braveheart would have us think.
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Sex and the Renaissance Nun In 15th century Venice, nuns knew how to let loose.
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| The Champagne Glass and the Breast Were Marie-Antoinette's breasts the inspiration for the champagne glass?
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| Good Old-Fashioned Porn Porn as nostalgia. Who was the anonymous genius who invented the stag movie?
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| Standing up in Court In 16th- and 17th-century France, manhood went on trial.
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| Welcome to the Gabinetto Segreto In centuries past, visitors to the grand museums of Europe often had their own private agenda.
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| Why Castrati Made Better Lovers Sex, drugs, and opera. In the 18th century, castration was the fast track to stardom.
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