David Le Breton is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Strasbourg.

• IntroductionThe Birth of a Book – Overview1.The Invention of the FaceThe Impossible Face of God – The Individualization of the Body and the Face – The Social Celebration of the Face: The Portrait – The Mirror – Photography: The Democratization of Faces – Anthropometry – The Invention of the Face – The Selfie or the Banalization of the Face – Disappearance of the Face in Connection – Facial Recognition2. Physiognomy or the Face as ConfessionThe Half-Telling of the Face – Treatises on Physiognomy – The Physiognomic Sensation – A Science of the Face? – The Stigmata of the "Born Criminal"3. The Racialization of the Face. When the Other is No Longer Quite HumanWhen the Face Becomes the Race – Color Line, Shadow Line – Black Ugliness – Jewish Ugliness – Skin Lightening – Ethnic Surgery4. The Face-to-Face of Social RelationsThe Symbolism of the Face – Face to Face – From the Face to the Individual – Interaction and The Gaze – Eye Contact – The Stare – The Evil Eye – Medusa's Gaze5. The Face is an OtherAmbivalence – Asymmetry – The Face is an Other – Imaginaries of the Double – Resemblance – Twinship – Recognizing Faces – Losing the Sense of Face6. The Many Guises of the FaceGrimacing – From Impassivity to "Facecrime" – Face Painting – Wearing Makeup – Veiling – Masking – Incognito – Masks in the Time of Covid-197. Modifying the Form of the FaceGetting a New Look – The Eternal "Fair Sex"8. Aging: When We No Longer Recognize OurselvesAging is a Feeling – Aging in the Eyes of Others – Losing One’s Face of Reference – The Gender of Aging9. Queering or Inventing One's Own FaceGender Fluidity – Queering the Face – Passing10. Faces and ValueThe Power of Appeal – The Paradoxes of the Face's Eminence – Beauty as Disinterestedness – The Privileges of Beauty – The Gender of Attraction – From Beauty to Sex Appeal – Ugliness11. The Face and the Shoah12. Disfigurement: A Handicap of AppearanceA Sign of Identity – Breaking the Social Mirror – Face TransplantsAfterwordBibliography

"Le Breton, with some justification, compares the plastic surgeon to 'a psychiatrist advising a paranoid patient to be more wary of his enemies."The New Yorker"It is rare to be open-mouthed with wonder: I never knew a face could mean so much. David Le Breton's cultural history of faces moved me in unexpected ways. It is a work of poetic and literary genius."Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck College"One can read so much into and from a person's face. David Le Breton is a master interpreter of faces, bodies and societies. This book is a treasure trove of clues, gleaned from history and across cultures, that will expand your understanding of the possibilities of facial expression immeasurably. It gives tremendous depth to the notion of face-value."David Howes, Concordia University