The Long And Short Of It: Five Thousand Years Of Fun And Fury Over Hair

by Bill Severn

This hardback book is a humorous and pictorial look at the historic anger and rage that the older generations have had against the hair styles of the young.  This book was written in 1970-1971 when long hair and beards where at the very height of controversy.  This long hair controversy included court cases, school ruling and violent uprisings.

Bill Severn explores the history of controversial hair from the beginning of time when Adam was hanging around the Garden of Eden.

His book has lots of great photos, unfortunately they are all black and white. The photos are fascinating and cover a tremendous range in time and history.

Severn has an original photo of the Fab 4 and explains how the Beatles started the big long hair craze for men around the world. He also has some great photos of Middle Age long hair for men, fake beards, powdered wigs and photos of a symbolic hair cutting in the Broadway musical Hair.

Basically this book covers five thousand years of hair happenings.  If you want to look at how hair has affected civilizations in the past up to 1970, this is the book to get.  It is well written, informative and very entertaining.

This book is currently out of print, but I have personally found it at the Strand Bookstore in NYC, Powell's in Portland, Oregon and Half Price Used Books in Dallas, Texas.  I think Amazon.com could find a copy without too much trouble.

I strongly recommend this book for just about anyone who is sincerely interested in the history of long hair.

Buy The Book

Hardcover
Publisher: Random House (Merchandising) (June 1, 1971)
ISBN: 0679200983