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Whip-smart. . . Marked by Radke's vivacious writing, candid self-reflections, and sophisticated cultural analyses, this is an essential study of 'ideas and prejudices' about the female body. * <b>Publishers Weekly (starred review)</b> * Heather Radke's Butts: A Backstory is rigorous, generous, and utterly compelling. The range of its research is thrillingly expansive-from the deep origins of twerk to the sleek silhouettes of Coco Chanel, from the mono-bum of the Victorian bustle to the brilliant subversions of drag-allowing Radke a range of fascinating vantage points from which to explore the histories our bodies hold. With humor, intelligence, outrage, and compassion, Radke excavates the social and historical forces that haunt our most ordinary moments. This fiercely intelligent, frequently witty backstory is a journey through centuries of history that will transform how you think about the butt, and-quite possibly-how you consider the value of exploring those parts of ourselves we don't take seriously enough. * <B>Leslie Jamison, bestselling author of <i>Make It Scream Make It Burn </i>and <i>The Empathy Exams</i></B> * From the first, I have been delighted and deeply informed by Heather Radke's writing. She has a mind like no other. This book contributes not only a great deal to the complicated discussion around women's bodies, it illuminates what unites us all: being human. * <B>Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author of <i>White Girls</i></B> * Juicy and scholarly, Butts is a heck of a ride. At turns troubling, wild, painful, surprising and flat-out fun, Radke's reporting unearths a set of largely overlooked historical figures with outsized effects on cultural evolutions, from the discovery of the first hominid butt, to the creation of the frightening statues Norm and Norma, to the gruesome tale behind the bustle, these gripping stories work together to elucidate the crushing web of cultural, commercial, and pseudoscientific forces shaping our very private senses of discomfort, envy, and belonging. Her book is teeming with rebels-drag queens and fat activists and twerkers-who flip supremacy the bird and offer another path through. Don't let the cute cover fool you, inside is a serious feat of reporting and scholarship. * <B>Lulu Miller, bestselling author of <i>Why Fish Don't Exist</i></B> * A deeply thought, rigorously researched, and riveting history of human butts - Radke knows exactly when to approach her subject with levity and when with gravity. A pitch perfect debut. * <B>Melissa Febos, bestselling author of <i>Girlhood </i>and <i>Body Work</i></B> * Heather Radke takes a subject so familiar as to be practically invisible and trains a sharp reportorial eye on it, touring the reader through the centuries of cultural history that shape our feelings about what's filling out our jeans. She has amassed a trove of surprising and fascinating case studies, from bustles and the Hottentot Venus to flappers, fit models, and Sir Mixalot. Butts is everything you want a piece of reportage to be: smart, creative, searching, deeply researched, political, and fun. * <B>Jordan Kisner, author of <i>Thin Places</i></B> *

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BUTTS: A BACKSTORY Heather Radke's Butts: A Backstory is rigorous, generous, and utterly compelling. The range of its research is thrillingly expansive-from the deep origins of twerk to the sleek silhouettes of Coco Chanel, from the mono-bum of the Victorian bustle to the brilliant subversions of drag-allowing Radke a range of fascinating vantage points from which to explore the histories our bodies hold. With humor, intelligence, outrage, and compassion, Radke excavates the social and historical forces that haunt our most ordinary moments. This fiercely intelligent, frequently witty backstory is a journey through centuries of history that will transform how you think about the butt, and-quite possibly-how you consider the value of exploring those parts of ourselves we don't take seriously enough. -Leslie Jamison, bestselling author of Make It Scream Make It Burn and The Empathy Exams Juicy and scholarly, Butts is a heck of a ride. At turns troubling, wild, painful, surprising and flat-out fun, Radke's exploration of the derriere is truly profound. Her rigorous reporting unearths a set of largely overlooked historical figures with outsized effects on cultural evolutions. From the discovery of the first hominid butt, to the creation of the frightening statues Norm and Norma, to the gruesome tale behind the bustle, these gripping stories work together to elucidate the crushing web of cultural, commercial, and pseudoscientific forces shaping our very private senses of discomfort, envy, and belonging. But Radke doesn't stop at the dreary power of hegemony. Her book is teeming with rebels-drag queens and fat activists and twerkers-who flip supremacy the bird and offer another path through. Her deep reportage on the saga of Sarah Bartman concludes with one of the most striking, painful and powerful acts of defiance I've ever seen. Don't let the cute cover fool you, inside is a serious feat of reporting and scholarship. Come for the cheekiness, stay for the awe. -Lulu Miller, bestselling author of Why Fish Don't Exist

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR BUTTS: A BACKSTORY Heather Radke's Butts: A Backstory is rigorous, generous, and utterly compelling. The range of its research is thrillingly expansive-from the deep origins of twerk to the sleek silhouettes of Coco Chanel, from the mono-bum of the Victorian bustle to the brilliant subversions of drag-allowing Radke a range of fascinating vantage points from which to explore the histories our bodies hold. With humor, intelligence, outrage, and compassion, Radke excavates the social and historical forces that haunt our most ordinary moments. This fiercely intelligent, frequently witty backstory is a journey through centuries of history that will transform how you think about the butt, and-quite possibly-how you consider the value of exploring those parts of ourselves we don't take seriously enough. -Leslie Jamison, bestselling author of Make It Scream Make It Burn and The Empathy Exams Juicy and scholarly, Butts is a heck of a ride. At turns troubling, wild, painful, surprising and flat-out fun, Radke's exploration of the derriere is truly profound. Her rigorous reporting unearths a set of largely overlooked historical figures with outsized effects on cultural evolutions. From the discovery of the first hominid butt, to the creation of the frightening statues Norm and Norma, to the gruesome tale behind the bustle, these gripping stories work together to elucidate the crushing web of cultural, commercial, and pseudoscientific forces shaping our very private senses of discomfort, envy, and belonging. But Radke doesn't stop at the dreary power of hegemony. Her book is teeming with rebels-drag queens and fat activists and twerkers-who flip supremacy the bird and offer another path through. Her deep reportage on the saga of Sarah Bartman concludes with one of the most striking, painful and powerful acts of defiance I've ever seen. Don't let the cute cover fool you, inside is a serious feat of reporting and scholarship. Come for the cheekiness, stay for the awe. -Lulu Miller, bestselling author of Why Fish Don't Exist Heather Radke takes a subject so familiar as to be practically invisible and trains a sharp reportorial eye on it, touring the reader through the centuries of cultural history that shape our feelings about what's filling out our jeans. She has amassed a trove of surprising and fascinating case studies, from bustles and the Hottentot Venus to flappers, fit models, and Sir Mixalot. Butts is everything you want a piece of reportage to be: smart, creative, searching, deeply researched, political, and fun. -Jordan Kisner, author of Thin Places

This crackling cultural history melds scholarship and pop culture to arrive at a comprehensive taxonomy of the female bottom. ... Radke leaves no stone unturned... Lively and thorough, Butts is the best kind of nonfiction-the kind that forces you to see something ordinary through completely new eyes. * <B><I>Esquire</I>, Best Books of 2022 So Far</B> * Deeply reported and wildly entertaining... Radke takes readers through an absorbing cultural history that asks how this human body part came to be on the receiving end of so much attention. * <B><I>TIME</I>, 100 Must-Read Books of 2022</B> * It is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. I could go on and on and on about it. . . . It's astounding to me, the stuff that I learned. * <b>All the Books Podcast, <i>BookRiot</i></b> * Butts: A Backstory traces a complicated fascination from Empire-era spectacle to MTV. . . A contoured yet amply scaled study. * <I><B>Vanity Fair</B></I> * An ambitious mash-up of pop culture, science, and history, this breakout debut from Radiolab reporter Radke tracks the evolution of attitudes toward women's butts from the Hottentot Venus to Miley Cyrus. Along the way, Radke delves into eugenics, hip-hop aesthetics, the physiology of posteriors, and more. It adds up to one of the year's most ingenious and eye-opening cultural studies. * <B><I>Publishers Weekly</I>, Best Books of 2022</B> * Fascinating and frank... [with] top- notch reportage, assured and respectful voice and invitation to butt-centric contemplation... [Radke] guides readers on an impressively well-researched tour of butts throughout history, beginning with a functional analysis (hominids and horses take center stage) and ultimately alighting in the present (twerking, social media and celebrity butts). * <b>BookPage (starred review)</b> * Radke thoughtfully, and without judgment, addresses the complexities and contradictions that this body part evokes and delves into some surprising topics that may spark further curiosity in readers. Her captivating writing and witty approach to a taboo topic will appeal to a variety of nonfiction readers, particularly those interested in cultural history and gender studies. . . A fun, fascinating, and surprisingly empowering exploration of the history and cultural significance of the butt. * <b><i>Library Journal </i>(starred review)</b> * Heather Radke's social history of female butts promises to be a deeply researched and thoroughly fascinating look (ogle?) at a body part that has long captured the cultural imagination. Radke talks to evolutionary biologists, models, and fitness gurus, and dives into the history of the racist objectification of women like Sarah Baartmann and Josephine Baker in an effort to understand our complex relationship with the butt. * <b><i>LitHub, </i>Most Anticipated Books of 2022</b> *

Author Information

Heather Radke is an essayist, journalist, and contributing editor and reporter at Radiolab, the Peabody Award­–winning program from WNYC. She has written for publications including The Believer, Longreads, and The Paris Review, and she teaches at Columbia University’s creative writing MFA Program. Before becoming a writer, Heather worked as a curator at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago.

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