Strange Antics: A History of Seduction

(Paperback)

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When is seduction about more than just sex In this brilliantly original history, Clement Knox explores these questions as well as the philosophy, legality, politics, art and literature of a force that underwrites our world.
In the first history of its kind, Clement Knox reassesses our idea of seduction in a narrative that moves from Casanovas pursuit of pleasure, to Americas racialised seduction laws, to the Nazi propaganda designed to stoke sexual panic, and up to #MeToo.

Modern, big-thinking and enormously entertaining, Knox offers an extraordinary range of stories to chart the many guises of seduction, showing that our ideas about desire, courtship, and power have always developed in step with a changing world.

Reviews

Clement Knox has mastered the art of reader seduction with his intriguing and expertly woven web of gripping stories and insights. Strange Antics will hold the reader in its thrall
Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five

Erudite yet engaging Though ambitious in its scope it is endlessly surprising in the individual stories it unearths. I found this Pandoras box of sexual mores through the ages both thought-provoking and hugely entertaining
Cathy Newman

Big and bold His history of seduction examines a variety of narratives from scandalous memoirs to legal procedure Impressive There is much to praise here
Sunday Times

A work of narrative nonfiction la mode. Each chapter focuses on a single individual Their lives and work are then used to elucidate the grander historical narrative A blistering finale, drawing together themes of sexual politics, economics, law and the ordinary human desire for love and companionship into a vision of our present condition
Times

Seduction is the subject of films and fiction, legal cases and human resources headaches and yet its history has never been written. Knox rectifies this omission with this absorbing account Erudite and above all entertaining
Tatler

There is much to enjoy in Clement Knoxs ambitious first work He writes with passion and insight.
i Newspaper

A capacious new history of seduction Produces a clutch of vivid biographical portraits and offers a pacey introduction to some canonical texts.
Guardian

Rich history Full of punchy political insight Satisfying and interesting And full of share-worthy anecdotes.
Daily Telegraph

Fascinating Knox is a natural biographer with a flair for unveiling startling anecdotes with evident relish Exhilarating
New Statesman

Extensive and entertaining
Literary Review

Author Bio

Clement Knox was born in Hong Kong in 1989. He has a B.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford and an M.A. in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins University. He currently lives in London, where he works for Waterstones as a nonfiction buyer. Strange Antics will be his first book.