Obscenity is central to an understanding of medieval culture, and it is here examined in a number of different media. Obscenity is, if nothing else, controversial. Its definition, consumption and regulation fire debate about the very meaning of art and culture, law, politics and ideology. And it is often, erroneously, assumed to be synonymous with modernity. Medieval Obscenities examines the complex and contentious role of the obscene - what is offensive, indecent or morally repugnant - in medieval culture from late antiquity through to the end of the Middle Ages in western Europe. Its approach is multidisciplinary, its methodologies divergent and it seeks to formulate questions and stimulate debate. The essays examine topics as diverse as Norse defecation taboos, the Anglo-Saxon sexual idiom, sheela-na-gigs, impotence in the church courts, bare ecclesiastical bottoms, rude sounds and dirty words, as well as the modern reception and representation of the medieval obscene. They demonstrate not only the vitality of medieval obscenity, but its centrality to our understanding of the Middle Ages and ourselves. Contributors: MICHAEL CAMILLE, GLENN DAVIS, EMMA DILLON, SIMON GAUNT, JEREMY GOLDBERG, EAMONN KELLY, CAROLYNE LARRINGTON, NICOLAMCDONALD, ALASTAIR MINNIS, DANUTA SHANZER

Who better to help us foresee how emerging trends will help shape the agenda for business in the first decade of the twenty-first century than Global Business Network, the renowned futurist think tank and strategic consulting firm, where some of the greatest minds from these fields converge and converse? In What's Next?, GBN's President, Eamonn Kelly, and its knowledge developer, Peter Leyden, weave together fresh, new insights from expansive interviews with many of the Network's key thinkers, including: Stewart Brand on civilization, Mary Catherine Bateson on cultural change, Paul Hawken on the anti-globalization movement, Esther Dyson on Russia, Kevin Kelly on thinking globally, and Francis Fukuyama on biotechnology. The result is a thought-provoking, and inspiring guide to the ideas, concepts, and forces that will influence business in an era of increasing uncertainty-and opportunity. Visit the GBN website at www.gbn.org.