Title: Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery Author: David L. Gollaher Publisher: Basic Books Publish Date: 2000 Pages: 253 Genres:: Sexual Health/Men, History, Non-Fiction, Sociology Reviewer: Jerome D'Angelo

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“Circumcision, persisting for thousands of years, flowing from tribal rituals through the world’s great religions into modern medicine, presents the historian with an unusual array of challenges,” writes medical historian David Gollaher. These are the very first words of the acknowledgments preface to Gollaher’s fantastic and flawlessly researched book Circumcision: A History of the World’s Most Controversial Surgery.  Gollaher may have inadvertently stated the best and most concise description of his manuscript by writing that.

An extraordinary read that will confound and educate any reader of any ideology or educational background, Circumcision is at once utterly depressing and undeniably magnificent. Gollaher’s painstaking research stuffs the pages cover to cover with astounding detail.  Circumcision is, quite possibly, the most complete and most comprehensive study of the procedure to date.

Reading Circumcision can be challenging to say the least. This is not because the writing is stale or because the subject matter is uninteresting. Quite the contrary, Gollaher does a wonderful job of not presenting his myriad of citations and references in a textbook format. What makes Circumcision a difficult and at times even harrowing read is the sheer detail of the procedures from various epochs that is portrayed.  Gollaher begins by laying out the procedure’s ritualistic origins. The earliest records of such practices are from ancient Egypt, where the surgery was considered a right of passage. Gollaher then continues up through ancient Jewish tradition, where circumcision was, and still is, administered by mohels, under the belief that it is a “covenant” between a man and God. Gollaher then follows the procedure and its historical significance up through to the modern day, leaving little ambiguity, or for that matter to the imagination. Included in Gollaher’s findings are circumcision’s relevance to Islamic law and Western medicine, as well as the anti-circumcision movements that have emerged over the last 15 or so years.  

Circumcision’s illustrations are few, but they are nonetheless effective. The first is a bas-relief inside an Egyptian necropolis at Saqqara (ca. 2400 B.C.). It is supposedly the world’s oldest depiction of the procedure.  In it, high priests are shown cutting young males with sharpened stones. The figures are depicted as agonized; one is shown being physically restrained. Another picture shows a little Turkish boy in a white suit. The caption informs the reader that this is his “circumcision suit.” One illustration towards the end of the book seems even oddly comical. It is a sketch of a contraption with a ball lead weight that fits on a man’s circumcised penis to stretch the remaining prepuce so as to “un-circumcise” him over time.    
There is no question that this book is a must read regardless of one’s political affiliations, religious convictions or general sensibilities. Circumcision offers readers an unprecedented look into the history and meaning of a procedure truly unlike any other.  Unfortunately, many people simply do not know enough about this practice or its long-term effects and supposed benefits. Gollaher takes the subject from the taboo and makes it accessible to the lay community; an understanding of modern medicine is not necessary to comprehend the information presented.

Circumcision: A History of the World’s Most Controversial Surgery is an essential addition to any library, equally apropos for the study as it is for any sexual health educator’s library. In shedding light on ancient rituals and challenging so-called established medical practices, David L. Gollaher has contributed a uniquely superb work that, quite simply, should be required reading for all adults.