Synopses & Reviews
Review
"[A] fascinating and pioneering work...Ruggiero's ideas are brilliantly tantalizing."--Journal of Social History
"[A] highly original and highly acclaimed, almost magical transformation of dusty legal records into [a] book."--Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance
"Colorful, ground-breaking....Ruggiero's vivid survey of sexual behavior is an important contribution to Venetian historiography which no social, political, or cultural study will be able to ignore."--Renaissance Quarterly
"An important and fascinating study that provides a new perspective on Renaissance culture and society. Highly recommended."--Library Journal
"Lucid and vigorous....Gives important background for understanding sexuality depicted in romance epic."--Katherine King, University of California, Los Angeles
Review
"Extremely welcome for its systematic attempt to squeeze information about changing attitudes to sexuality from the judicial records."--
The London Review of Books"As full a picture as can be constructed from the scraps of legal and other documents which reveal the Venetian attitudes towards women and sexuality, sex crime and sexual deviance in the Renaissance."--Chronique
"[An] excellent case history."--Sex Roles