The Science of Beauty

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 1-14

3. From Wisdom to Knowledge: Bodies and Artificial Beauty in the Eighteenth Century

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 15-36

4. Regulated Bodies: Cosmetics and Hygiene in the Nineteenth Century

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 37-64

5. Renovated Bodies: Medical Cosmetics from the Fin de Siècle to the Weimar Republic

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 65-108

6. Simulated Bodies: Cosmetics and Consumption in the Interwar Period

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 109-155

7. Knowledge and Political Conscience: Social Cosmetics during the Great Depression

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 157-180

8. Conclusion

   • Annelie Ramsbrock

   Pages 181-191

9. Back Matter

   Pages 193-277

   PDF

What did the cosmetic practices of middle-class women in the nineteenth century have in common with the repair of men's bodies mutilated in war? What did the New Woman of the Weimar years have to do with the field of social medicine that emerged in the same period? They were all part of a conversation about the cosmetic modification of bodies, a debate shaped by scientific knowledge and normative social models. Conceived as a cultural history, this book examines the history of artificially created beauty in Germany from the late Enlightenment to the early days of National Socialist rule.

• eighteenth century
• enlightenment
• german history
• Germany
• history
• National Socialism
• Weimar

“I enjoyed this book from the very beginning. Its fundamental thesis is as simple as it is convincing. Ideals of beauty must always be grasped as (historically variable) self-descriptions of society. Well-researched and readable, this study makes an exemplary contribution to the history of science and culture.” (Luca Giuliani, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany and author of Image and Myth: A History of Pictorial Narration in Greek Art)

“This compelling and masterfully researched book shows that what a society sees as beautiful, and the steps taken to achieve beauty and body ideals, has a deep, rich, and changing history. How Germans adorned themselves, how they altered and transformed their faces and bodies, constituted in actuality elaborate claims to class identity, gender norms,  and social status. Part history of medicine and science, part philosophy, part cultural and business history, this wonderful book will change the way historians think about the potency of personal acts and individual behavior.” (Jennifer V. Evans, Associate Professor, Department of History, Carleton University, Canada and author of Life among the Ruins: Cityscape and Sexuality in Cold War Berlin)

Annelie Ramsbrock is a research associate at the Center for Contemporary Historical Research in Potsdam, Germany. She received her doctorate in 2010 from the Free University, Berlin.

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