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This mortal coil : the human body in history and culture
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This mortal coil : the human body in history and culture

by Fay Bound Alberti

This history examines changing cultural and medical perceptions of the human body and its constituent parts. It explores how scientific developments and social shifts have influenced notions of identity, health, and the relationship between the physical self and the mind.

Accession 11955 ISBN 9780199599035 Publisher —
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TAGS
Curated Derived
Animals Biology Family and Society History Human Evolution Life Sciences Medicine Science Social Sciences
CONNECTIONS
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State
on_shelf
True
position_updated_at
2026-06-01 16:43
orientation
vertical
Details

Physical

binding_type
Hard Back
dimensions
none captured
spine_text
none captured

Metadata

Book form
LOCATION HISTORY
M:N3:28 3 Current vertical
1 week, 3 days ago
Book Location
Updated 4 days, 22 hours ago
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Last synced 2026-05-21 00:55 (2 weeks, 2 days ago)

Identity

name→ title
This mortal coil : the human body in history and culture
vernon_id
16039
accession_no→ accession_number
11955
vernon_slug
this-mortal-coil-the-human-body-in-history-and-culture-fay-bound-alberti

Drives Pulse state

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On Shelf
location_name
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location_reason
On Shelf
isbn_issn→ isbn (when valid)
9780199599035

Descriptive

production_date
2016
object_type
Books/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication
object_status
Accessioned
brief_description
To many people the idea that 'the body' has its own history might sound faintly ridiculous. The body and its experiences are usually seen as something that we share with people from the past. Like 'human nature', it represents the unchanging in a changing world. Bodies just are...But the body does have a history. The way that it moves, feels, breathes, and engages with the world has been viewed very differently across times and cultures. For centuries, 'we' were believed to be composed of souls that were part of the body and inseparable from it. Now we exist in our heads, and our bodies have become the vessels for that uncertain and elusive thing we call our 'true selves'. The way we understand the material structure of the body has also changed radically over the centuries. From the bones to the skin, from the senses to the organs of sexual reproduction, every part of the body has an ever-changing history, dependent on time, culture, and place. This Mortal Coil is an exploration of that history. Peeling away our assumptions about the unchanging nature of the human body, Fay Bound Alberti takes it apart in order to put it back anew, telling the cultural history of our key organs and systems from the inside out, from blood to guts, brains to sex organs. The understanding of the 'modern body' she reveals in the process is far removed from the 'eternal' or timeless object of common assumption. In fact, she argues, its roots go back no further than the sixteenth century at the earliest - and it has only truly existed in its current form since the nineteenth century.

Subjects & people

authors→ author (initial fill only)
Fay Bound Alberti
tags→ tags
Science, Psychology, Medicine, Life sciences, History, Emotions, Biology, Organs (Anatomy), Anatomy, Vertebrates, Chordata, Animals, Human beings, Hominids, Primates, Mammals, Human body, Health, Physiology, Human body -- Social aspects, Human anatomy
subject_people
—
subject_objects
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Cover image

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18933

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Topics and Themes