Confessions of the Flesh: The History of Sexuality, Volume 4

The fourth and final volume in Michel Foucault's acclaimed History of Sexuality, completed just before his death in 1984 and only recently brought to lightOne of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, Michel Foucault has made an indelible impact on Western thought. The first three volumes in his History of Sexuality--which traced cultural and intellectual notions of sexuality, arguing that it has been profoundly shaped by the power structures applied to it--constitute some of Foucault's most important work. This fourth volume--which posits that the origins of totalitarian self-surveillance began with the Christian practice of confession--has long been secreted away, in accordance with Foucault's stated wish that there be no posthumous publication of his work.It was not until the sale of the Foucault archives in 2013, which made his unpublished work available to scholars, that his nephew felt that the time had come to finally publish Confessions of the Flesh. Readers will find it both sweeping and deeply personal, as Foucault--born into a French Catholic family--undoubtedly wrestled with these issues himself.