A History of Prostitution: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age (History of Human Society Book 1)

For thousands of years, prostitution has survived empires, religions, wars, revolutions, prohibition and technological change. But why?

A History of Prostitution: From the Ancient World to the Digital Age traces the evolution of commercial sex from the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt through ancient Greece and Rome, medieval brothels, Renaissance courtesans, Victorian cities, the world wars and today's internet-driven sex industry.

Along the way, the book explores how prostitution became intertwined with some of the most powerful forces shaping civilization: money, poverty, gender, slavery, migration, religion, warfare, disease, urbanization and technology.

Discover:

How prostitution operated in ancient Greece and Rome

Why medieval European cities sometimes licensed and taxed brothels

How syphilis transformed attitudes toward commercial sex

Why industrialization produced enormous prostitution markets

How armies, ports, colonialism and war shaped the sex trade

How automobiles, telephones and the internet changed the marketplace

The crucial distinction between consensual sex work, trafficking and forced prostitution

Why countries today remain divided between prohibition, legalization, decriminalization and the Nordic model

Rather than treating prostitution simply as a history of sexuality, this book examines it as a window into the changing structure of human society.

Across centuries, governments repeatedly tried to regulate, suppress or eliminate prostitution. Yet the market adapted every time.

The history of prostitution is ultimately a history of civilization's changing relationship with sex, money, power and inequality.