Taking the concept of beauty seriously, this encyclopedia examines how humanity has sought and continues to seek what is "beautiful" in a variety of cultural contexts, giving readers an understanding of how to look at beauty both intellectually and critically.

• Provides an interdisciplinary approach to world beauty practices, from the earliest experiments in plastic surgery in 600 B.C. to contemporary practices

• Gives readers a representative overview of beauty practices around the globe

• Documents how from cosmetics to clothing, exercise to body modification, being beautiful is a goal worldwide

• Identifies numerous authoritative sources of information for further research and reading