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Noelle Gallagher. Itch, Clap, Pox: Venereal Disease in the Eighteenth-Century Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019. Pp. 288. $65.00 (cloth).

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the eastern Mediterranean held in early modern thought as a place where religions, cultures, and empires met. Occasionally these simplifications veer into the entirely misleading, such as claiming that “the… Click to show full abstract

the eastern Mediterranean held in early modern thought as a place where religions, cultures, and empires met. Occasionally these simplifications veer into the entirely misleading, such as claiming that “the English never feared or hated the Turks” (15); the popular early seventeenth-century English historian and travel writer Richard Knolles reflected a common sentiment when he wrote that the Turks were “sworn enemies of the Christian” (The Generall Historie of the Turkes [1603], 847). The book improves once Fox and Fox move on to covering the types of routes and destinations on a typical journey from England into the Levant. They add considerable color to these journeys with material such as extracts from travelogues (which feel better placed in these chapters than in the earlier ones), paintings, maps, photos of objects, and newspaper articles that all help the reader form an image of the various towns, routes, and other elements of a journey. Again, the brevity of the project cuts short what could have been fascinating explorations into early modern places like Venice and Constantinople and what they meant to the contemporary British gentleman. Nevertheless, Fox and Fox show a more nuanced approach in this section, helping the reader appreciate the challenging nature of such travels and the conflicting attitudes of Englishmen toward the Levant. Here travel accounts are used to illuminate what it was like for an English Protestant traveling across religious boundaries (both Christian and Muslim) into the Levant. Fox and Fox do well to point out the complex position Constantinople occupied in the mind of the English traveler: it was exotic, rich, and in many ways more favorable to Protestants than were many Catholic parts of Europe, but it was also considered an occupied city and the prime example of the Muslim threat to Europe. The most interesting part is the final section, accounting for one third of the book. “A Voyage” builds on the previous chapters by bringing a journey to life in much more detail by following two British men traveling across the Adriatic to Constantinople. Here Fox and Fox are most successful in helping the reader appreciate the motivation, nature, and travails of voyages into the early modern Levant by supplying historical context for the journey, and adding additional material like images of the flora than inspired many travelers to the eastern Mediterranean. This vignette into this fascinating age of travels leaves one wishing that Fox and Fox had offered the same level of much-needed detail to the earlier chapters. Overall, Fox and Fox manage to successfully draw upon a range of original sources to provide the reader with a generally engaging and informative account, particularly in the last section, and the biographies and anecdotes weaved throughout the book make for interesting reading. While the shortcomings in length, depth, and writing style detract from what could have been a more compelling dive into a very interesting time in European and British history, this little book will be a welcome addition to readers wishing to learn about this topic.

Keywords: journey; fox; century; book; early modern; fox fox

Journal Title: Journal of British Studies
Year Published: 2021

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