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Severed
Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found | Frances Larson
19 posts | 9 read | 25 to read
The human head is exceptional. It accommodates four of our five senses, encases the brain and boasts the most expressive set of muscles in the body. It is our most distinctive attribute and it connects our inner selves to the outer world more intensely than any other part of the body. Yet there is a dark side to the head's pre-eminence, one that has, in the course of Western history, manifested itself in everything from decapitation to headhunting. Over the centuries, human heads have decorated our churches, festooned our city walls and filled our museums. Long-regarded as objects of fascination and repulsion, they have been props for portrait artists and specimens for laboratory scientists, trophies for soldiers and items of barter.From the western collectors whose demand for shrunken heads spurred brutal massacres, to the Second World War soldiers who sent the remains of Japanese opponents home to their girlfriends; from the memento mori in Romantic portraits to Damien Hirst's platinum skull set with diamonds; from grave-robbing phrenologists to skull-obsessed scientists, Larson explores the bizarre, fantastical and confounding history of the severed head, and offers us a new perspective on our macabre preoccupations.
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jahnna
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Pickpick

first book of summer break

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Nessavamusic
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Today‘s #LitsyDressedinBlood prompt:

“Off with their heads!”

I have not read this, but looks fascinating.

MidnightBookGirl I am also fascinated now by this book! 3y
40 likes4 stack adds1 comment
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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(continued)...quick it was impossible to discern.

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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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JazzFeathers
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And this is the back. Isn't it both creepy and funny? (Or is it just me?)

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Funny . . . And fascinating! 😂🤔 6y
JazzFeathers @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled the customer came today and l asked what she needs this book for. She told me it's for an antropoligical research about museums. Now l'm really intrigued. 6y
44 likes2 comments
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JazzFeathers
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A customer ordered this. I mean... easy, relaxing read before bed, isn't it? I opened it and the first thing l saw was a Victorian lady dusting human skulls displayed on shelves.
Still l kind of think this might be quite an interesting read.

zsuzsanna_reads 😂😂😂As long as it's not part of practical research... 6y
Weaponxgirl I loved this book! My friends got head facts whilst I was reading it. 6y
LauraJ Definitely try to make friends with that customer. 6y
See All 7 Comments
JazzFeathers @Weaponxgirl l'm soooo curiouse. What is it about precisely? 6y
JazzFeathers @zsuzsanna_reads @LauraJ The customer came today to collect the book and since she was a very easy person, l asked her what she needed the book for. She told me she's studing Fine Arts and at the moment is doing an antropoligical research to determine how and why some things (including human remains) ended up in museums. Now l AM intrigued! 6y
Weaponxgirl Honestly it covered a lot of different things (been 2 years since I read) I remember the chapter about head hunters being particularly good. She talked about colonialism and how science was all about measuring head size and Europeans went to other countries asking for people‘s heads (and how we got them) all the while calling them savages 6y
Weaponxgirl There was another on modern warfare and how people were coming back (I remember Vietnam) with trophies and talked a bit about the psychology of war. Another chapter was about head transplants. That‘s all I‘ve got off the top of my head (bloody essay I know) I remember some was a bit dry but overall I was fascinated by the subject 6y
54 likes7 comments
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Amiable
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With the recommendations that Goodreads is giving me based on my previous reading material, I'm pretty sure my name is going to end up on a government watch list. If it isn't already there. 😳😬

BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘m on that resister list also! 6y
Megara 👏👏👏 6y
LauraJ Welcome to the tribe. 6y
62 likes1 stack add3 comments
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BeththeBookDragon
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59 likes1 stack add
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Emilyrjones22
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When my obsession with all things historical and horrific intersect 😍😵.

TheLondonBookworm Hahahah love the sound of that! Wait... does that make me sound a bit morbid? 🙄 8y
Emilyrjones22 @TheLondonBookworm ha, only as morbid as me, so just makes you sound like a friend! 8y
Ms.Story I need this one in my life right now! Stacked!! 8y
Emilyrjones22 @BrittanysBookshelf I bring this up in conversation a lot (and probably freak people out 😂) - so fascinating. 8y
Ms.Story Bet it makes for intriguing conversation! I just put it on hold at my library!!! 8y
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Weaponxgirl
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Pickpick

I had to pair this with this yeah yeah yeahs album because of the song head will roll. This was just my kinda thing, slightly odd topic but incredibly interesting. This book managed to make me go through most emotions throughout, at points I found it entertaining and at others I felt a bit queasy . I checked my head was still attached constantly #booksandvinyl #readwomen #libraryloot

BekahB I can't remember if I've read this or if I flipped through it and added it to my TBR. Hmmm...I may have to find it and flip through it again to see if I still need to read it. 😂 8y
AWahle This sounds like the rare nonfiction book both my husband and I would enjoy! 8y
Weaponxgirl Some chapters are more interesting than others but I liked how she talked about the social implications ect. The shrunken heads chapter was a particular fave of mine. Some of it is gruesome or emotional but I still enjoyed it and would recommend but not before you eat. 8y
20 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Fishmouse

This just jumped to the top of my to-read, but our library system never has the good stuff. This is why Bezos has all my money. *cry*

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WoodyWoodson
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**this one's maybe not for the squeamish** Sometimes you want book on history that isn't the same old, same old. Frances Larson
delivers with this look at the history and culture of heads being separated from bodies. Well researched and written with just enough tongue-in-cheek humor. Pun intended!

8 likes1 stack add
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GiselaMonteiro
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I'm curious about this one. 💀

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corydora
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This was a surprise; it's not a history of specific heads, but of the reasons why we collect, revere, dissect, ex-and-repatriate, display and otherwise use human heads. Written from a curator's point of view, it's quite fascinating!