This exuberant gathering of essays and profiles represents 20 years of Thurmans celebrated writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and womens work--from haute couture to literature to commanding empires.

This exuberant gathering of essays and profiles represents 20 years of Thurmans celebrated writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and womens work--from haute couture to literature to commanding empires.

*A New York Times Notable Book of 2007 Cleopatra's Nose * is an exuberant gathering of essays and profiles, representing twenty years of Judith Thurman's writing, particularly her fascination with human vanity, femininity, and women's work--a term that, in her definition, encompasses haute couture, literature, and ruling empires. The subjects are varied--Cleopatra, Jackie Kennedy, Anne Frank; tofu, performance art, pornography--but as a whole these essays hint at the central preoccupations of a uniquely inquisitive mind.