The East, the West and Sex
Author: Richard Bernstein
Publisher: Knopf
Price: $34 (Hardcover)
When considering the dynamic between East and West, we typically think of political, economic — and increasingly, religious — factors. But Richard Bernstein’s new historical account explores global relations of another kind. Sex, maintains Bernstein, has been a great source of both suffering and satisfaction for those Eastern women who have been on the receiving end of Western men’s pursuits. From popular figures such as Marco Polo and Gustave Flaubert, to lesser-known men who have shared their own exploits, Bernstein examines the impact of inter-hemispheric erotic encounters.
