by Mark Strage
The title is misleading. This book, another in the trendy mode of hey-us-guys-are-still-here tracts, is concerned with everything that has, from the beginning of time, been drawn, painted, written or said about what the fig leaf once covered up—the male genitalia. "The object of this book is to demonstrate that this preoccupation has not abated; that, on the contrary, the constellation of his conflicting emotions regarding the organ of his malehood has profoundly affected the manner in which man has organized his civilization, ordered his institutions, treated women and his fellow men, and even expressed the creations of his own imagination." What the book does in fact is demonstrate that the subject suffers badly from overexposure. There's nothing new here, no surprises that might have redeemed a rather dreary mass of random research on customs and myths. There is not one—pardon the expression—flash of insight. (Morrow; hardcover, $14.95, paperback, $7.95)
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