The three-volume History of the Body, written by French, British, and American anthropologists and cultural historians, takes a comprehensive look at body practices and body representation in Europe from the Renaissance to the present day. The second volume covers the period from the French Revolution to the outbreak of World War I: the "long 19th century," which brought with it numerous innovations that radically changed the perception of the body. Medical discoveries and artistic achievements, nascent sexology and the rapid development of sports, technological progress and moral reflection on pleasure and pain - in all areas, attitudes towards the body are profoundly changing. This foreshadows even more profound changes that will occur in the 20th century.