Tits Up

One of the New Yorker's Best Books of 2024 An innovative investigation of the five strange worlds that worship women’s chests Praise for Seven Days in the Art World “A field guide to the nomadic tribes of the contemporary art world. The book was reported and written in a heated art market, but it is poised to endure as a work of sociology." — Mia Fineman, New York Times Book Review “The best book yet written about the modern-art boom . . . a Robert Altmanesque panorama of the most important cultural phenomenon of the last ten years." — Ben Lewis, Sunday Times (UK) “Thornton offers an indelible portrait of a peculiar society, simultaneously cutthroat and curious . . . glamorous yet filled with people who would have been unpopular in high school.” — Leslie Camhi, Vogue “An entertaining and lucid account of the mysterious ways of contemporary art. . . . [Thornton] does well to resist the temptation to draw any glib, overarching conclusions. There is more than enough in her rigorous, precise reportage . . . for the reader to make his or her own connections.” — Peter Aspden, Financial Times (UK) “An intelligently written . . . refreshingly open-minded exploration.” — Jonathan Keats, Washington Post “A terrific book—detailed, gossipy, and insightful. . . . By the end of the book, you almost understand how [Steve] Cohen could shell out $8 million for a rotting 14-foot shark pickled in formaldehyde.” — Thane Peterson, BusinessWeek “A one-stop tutorial on an often insular subculture. . . . [L]ight-hearted but sociologically acute.” — Gilbert Cruz, Time “Finely wrought and thoroughly researched . . . [with] an ingenious structure . . . and spot-on characterizations. . . . The author draws readers into the experience . . . [with her] infectious curiosity and meticulous reporting.” — Annie Buckley, Artweek After years of biopsies, best-selling author Sarah Thornton made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy. But, after her reconstructive surgery, she was perplexed: What had she lost? And gained? An experienced sleuth, she resolved to venture behind the scenes to uncover the social and cultural significance of breasts. Riotous and galvanizing, Tits Up excavates the diverse truths of mammary glands from the strip club to the operating room, from the nation’s oldest human milk bank to the fit rooms of bra designers. Thornton draws insights from plastic surgeons, lactation consultants, body-positive witches, lingerie models, and “free the nipple” activists to explore the status of breasts as emblems of femininity. She examines how women’s chests have become a billion-dollar business, as well as a stage for debates about race, class, gender, and desire. Everywhere she turns, Thornton encounters chauvinist myths about this elemental body part that quietly justify deficits in women’s bodily autonomy and endorse shortfalls in their political status. Blending sociology, reportage, and personal narrative with refreshing optimism and wit, Thornton has one overriding ambition—to liberate breasts from centuries of patriarchal prejudice.