{"product_id":"how-to-do-it-rudolph-m-bell-9780226042008","title":"How to Do It: Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians","description":"\u003ci\u003eHow to Do It\u003c\/i\u003e shows us sixteenth-century Italy from an entirely new perspective: through manuals which were staples in the households of middlebrow Italians merely trying to lead better lives. Addressing challenges such as how to conceive a boy, the manuals offered suggestions such as tying a tourniquet around your husband's left testicle. Or should you want to goad female desires, throw 90 grubs in a liter of olive oil, let steep in the sun for a week and apply liberally on the male anatomy. Bell's journey through booklets long dismissed by scholars as being of little literary value gives us a refreshing and surprisingly fun social history. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Lively and curious reading, particularly in its cascade of anecdote, offered in a breezy, cozy, journalistic style.\" --Lauro Martines, \u003ci\u003eTimes Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[Bell's] fascinating book is a window on a lost world far nearer to our own than we might imagine. . . . How pleasant to read his delightful, informative and often hilarious book.\" --Kate Saunders, \u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An extraordinary work which blends the learned with the frankly bizarre.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Professor Bell has a sly sense of humor and an enviably strong stomach. . . . He wants to know how people actually behaved, not how the Church or philosophers or earnest humanists thought they should behave. I loved this book.\" --Christopher Stace, \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Rudolph M. Bell\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226042006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226042008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/01\/2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 389\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.00d","brand":"Rudolph M. Bell","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44056651497727,"sku":"9780226042008","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_f8f6d8b2-23a7-4f5a-9cc5-a0c5885aedac.jpg?v=1685042507","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/how-to-do-it-rudolph-m-bell-9780226042008","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}