Books like Running Around Naked: 79 fan favorites

By Jelaine Lombardi,

Here are 79 books that Running Around Naked fans have personally recommended if you like Running Around Naked. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Cinema au Naturel: A History of Nudist Film

Yahya El-Droubie Author Of Nudist Camp Follies - Volume I: An Intimate Look at the Natural and Free Atmosphere in Sun Clubs

From my list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I look after the Pamela Green Archive which has grown from safeguarding Pamela's life and legacy to documenting and preserving material relating to the glamour industry and nudism in Briton from the 1920s to the late 60s. The Archive is engaged in acquiring, managing, and conserving various collections, which are made available through multiple channels. We also conduct research for scholars, historians, the press, and the media. Contributions, such as memorabilia, photographs, and film, are welcome. If you have stuff in a box collecting dust that you don't know what to do with, get in touch.

Yahya's book list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers

Yahya El-Droubie Why did Yahya love this book?

Welcome to the quirky world of nudist films. Well researched: broad, deep, and up-to-date. An informative and revealing book that offers a fascinating perspective on one of cinema's overlooked and marginal genres. It is only let down by the fact it is Anglo-centric; nevertheless, it is by far the best book on the subject.

By Mark Storey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cinema au Naturel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The quirky world of nudist films is revealed. Cinema au Naturel brings to life many long-forgotten films such as Elysia: Valley of the Nude, The Monster of Camp Sunshine, and Take Off Your Clothes and Live! In his account of the history of nudist film, Mark Storey, introduces readers to the best and the worst of these cinematic portrayals of clothes-free life.


Book cover of Nudism in a Cold Climate: The Visual Culture of Naturists in Mid-20th Century Britain

Yahya El-Droubie Author Of Nudist Camp Follies - Volume I: An Intimate Look at the Natural and Free Atmosphere in Sun Clubs

From my list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I look after the Pamela Green Archive which has grown from safeguarding Pamela's life and legacy to documenting and preserving material relating to the glamour industry and nudism in Briton from the 1920s to the late 60s. The Archive is engaged in acquiring, managing, and conserving various collections, which are made available through multiple channels. We also conduct research for scholars, historians, the press, and the media. Contributions, such as memorabilia, photographs, and film, are welcome. If you have stuff in a box collecting dust that you don't know what to do with, get in touch.

Yahya's book list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers

Yahya El-Droubie Why did Yahya love this book?

Well researched and well-written overview of the nudist movement in the UK from its inception till the 1970s. A fascinating glimpse behind British veils of propriety. Richly illustrated and long overdue. Great to see overlooked photographers such as Stephen Glass, Jean Straker, and Eva Grant get some welcome coverage.

By Annebella Pollen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Nudism in a Cold Climate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A fascinating glimpse into an experimental British nudist culture that radically challenged and transformed conventional attitudes to bodies and their representations

This richly illustrated volume examines the idiosyncratic phenomenon of social nudism in mid-20th-century Britain, an island nation fabled for its lack of sunshine and its reserved social attitudes.
Structured across three interrelated phases, readers first encounter the movement at its genesis in the 1920s, when nudism was synonymous with vegetarianism, intellectualism and utopianism. That nascent culture proliferated in the postwar era, with a widening landscape of amateur clubs and governing organizations alongside high-circulation publications and censorship-challenging photographers. Finally, Annebella…


Book cover of Naked as Nature Intended: The Epic Tale of a Nudist Picture

Yahya El-Droubie Author Of Nudist Camp Follies - Volume I: An Intimate Look at the Natural and Free Atmosphere in Sun Clubs

From my list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I look after the Pamela Green Archive which has grown from safeguarding Pamela's life and legacy to documenting and preserving material relating to the glamour industry and nudism in Briton from the 1920s to the late 60s. The Archive is engaged in acquiring, managing, and conserving various collections, which are made available through multiple channels. We also conduct research for scholars, historians, the press, and the media. Contributions, such as memorabilia, photographs, and film, are welcome. If you have stuff in a box collecting dust that you don't know what to do with, get in touch.

Yahya's book list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers

Yahya El-Droubie Why did Yahya love this book?

The cinematic tale of Harrison Marks' nudist feature Naked as Nature Intended, the iconic British him that brought us Pamela Green in her birthday suit. The book features behind-the-scenes exclusives and never-before-seen photographs by Douglas Webb DFM, who was the front gunner on the last plane back from the legendary Dambusters Raid [a.k.a. Operation Chastise] during World War II.

By Pamela Green, Douglas Webb (photographer),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Naked as Nature Intended as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Released in 1961, Naked as Nature Intended created a sensation. Queues formed around the block and police were called in to manage the crowds. It stayed on the big screen for over 17 months. The film was directed by the notorious George Harrison Marks and starred Pamela Green, Britain's answer to Bettie Page. Pamela Green was best-known for her short but striking role in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom.


The plot involves Pamela Green and a few other young women taking a holiday. Their destination? A nudist camp. Perfectly legal but totally scandalous at the time. Naked as Nature Intended represents…


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Book cover of Naked Britain

Yahya El-Droubie Author Of Nudist Camp Follies - Volume I: An Intimate Look at the Natural and Free Atmosphere in Sun Clubs

From my list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I look after the Pamela Green Archive which has grown from safeguarding Pamela's life and legacy to documenting and preserving material relating to the glamour industry and nudism in Briton from the 1920s to the late 60s. The Archive is engaged in acquiring, managing, and conserving various collections, which are made available through multiple channels. We also conduct research for scholars, historians, the press, and the media. Contributions, such as memorabilia, photographs, and film, are welcome. If you have stuff in a box collecting dust that you don't know what to do with, get in touch.

Yahya's book list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers

Yahya El-Droubie Why did Yahya love this book?

The book does an excellent job capturing the everyday lives of members of the Diogenes Sun Club in Chalfont, St. Peter, near London. A joyful look at the liberation that comes with being naked. The pics may inspire you to give it a try and rethink your views of the human body.

By Amelia Allen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Naked Britain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of A Brief History of Nakedness

Yahya El-Droubie Author Of Nudist Camp Follies - Volume I: An Intimate Look at the Natural and Free Atmosphere in Sun Clubs

From my list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I look after the Pamela Green Archive which has grown from safeguarding Pamela's life and legacy to documenting and preserving material relating to the glamour industry and nudism in Briton from the 1920s to the late 60s. The Archive is engaged in acquiring, managing, and conserving various collections, which are made available through multiple channels. We also conduct research for scholars, historians, the press, and the media. Contributions, such as memorabilia, photographs, and film, are welcome. If you have stuff in a box collecting dust that you don't know what to do with, get in touch.

Yahya's book list on nudism, from social reformists to sexploitation filmmakers

Yahya El-Droubie Why did Yahya love this book?

A fascinating look at the spiritual, cultural, and political implications of getting naked in public, from witchcraft to the art installations of Spencer Tunick. I found it to be an informative and fun read. People take their clothes off for various reasons, such as finding God, performing magic, and protesting against injustice. Lady Godiva's naked protest against taxation to  Breasts not Bombs, this book covers it all – or rather uncovers.

By Philip Carr-Gomm,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Brief History of Nakedness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Confrontations with naked human bodies can provoke powerful, and often contradictory, impressions and feelings. Just as they might either thrill or revolt, they can signal innocence or sexiness, frankness or madness, a oneness with nature or a separation from society. Advertisers and the media are very aware of the complex and highly subjective associations that most of us have towards nakedness, and use images incessantly to compete for our attention. Yet mystics have embraced nudity to get closer to God or to some other remote power, while political activists have discovered that baring all is one of the most effective…


Book cover of Mate Choice: The Evolution of Sexual Decision Making from Microbes to Humans

Ingo Schlupp Author Of Male Choice, Female Competition, and Female Ornaments in Sexual Selection

From my list on mate choice – in animals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an evolutionary ecologist with a lifelong fascination with mating behavior in animals, particularly fishes. The core of my doctoral thesis was trying to understand why some males mate with females of a different species, a behavior that I thought could not be adaptive. This was the starting point of my work on male mate choice, but also mate choice more generally. Originally from Germany, I have lived and worked in the US for a long time. Most of my work is on neotropical fishes so moving to America made sense.

Ingo's book list on mate choice – in animals

Ingo Schlupp Why did Ingo love this book?

I loved reading this book and I have used it in teaching. This is the most comprehensive book on mate choice. It will be defining the field for a long time. Rosenthal looks at everything that has to do with mate choice and provides an authoritative view of mate choice. He looks at the complexity of mate choice in its full range. If you look for the most complete book on mate choice, this is it.

By Gil Rosenthal,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mate Choice as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A major new look at the evolution of mating decisions in organisms from protozoans to humans The popular consensus on mate choice has long been that females select mates likely to pass good genes to offspring. In Mate Choice, Gil Rosenthal overturns much of this conventional wisdom. Providing the first synthesis of the topic in more than three decades, and drawing from a wide range of fields, including animal behavior, evolutionary biology, social psychology, neuroscience, and economics, Rosenthal argues that "good genes" play a relatively minor role in shaping mate choice decisions and demonstrates how mate choice is influenced by…


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Book cover of A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains: A Memoir

A Last Survivor of the Orphan Trains by Victoria Golden, William Walters,

Four years old and homeless, William Walters boarded one of the last American Orphan Trains in 1930 and embarked on an astonishing quest through nine decades of U.S. and world history.

For 75 years, the Orphan Trains had transported 250,000 children from the streets and orphanages of the East Coast…

Book cover of Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I

Adam Zamoyski Author Of Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe

From my list on to truly understand the First World War.

Why am I passionate about this?

Adam Zamoyski is a British historian of Polish origin. He is the author of over a dozen award winning books. His family originates in Poland. His parents left the country when it was invaded by Germany and Russia in 1939, and were stranded in exile when the Soviets took it over at the end of World War II. Drawn to it as much by the historical processes at work there as by family ties, Zamoyski began to visit Poland in the late 1960s. His interest in the subject is combined with a feel for its connections to the history and culture of other nations, and a deep understanding of the pan-European context.

Adam's book list on to truly understand the First World War

Adam Zamoyski Why did Adam love this book?

This book provides a radically alternative perspective on what this event meant for ordinary people. Using a wide range of letters, diaries, and memoirs, Neiberg reveals that most people had no idea what the war was about and saw no good reason for it, while the soldiers were often confused as to whom they were fighting and which part of the world they were in. It is a short book but an enlightening read.

By Michael Neiberg,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Dance of the Furies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The common explanation for the outbreak of World War I depicts Europe as a minefield of nationalism, needing only the slightest pressure to set off an explosion of passion that would rip the continent apart. But in a crucial reexamination of the outbreak of violence, Michael Neiberg shows that ordinary Europeans, unlike their political and military leaders, neither wanted nor expected war during the fateful summer of 1914. By training his eye on the ways that people outside the halls of power reacted to the rapid onset and escalation of the fighting, Neiberg dispels the notion that Europeans were rabid…


Book cover of Armaments and the Coming of War: Europe, 1904-1914

Gordon Martel Author Of The Origins of the First World War

From my list on why the First World War happened.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a historian of diplomacy, war, and empire. A founding editor of The International History Review, I have written books on ‘Imperial Diplomacy’, on the origins of the First World War, and on the July Crisis. I have edited: the 5-volume Encyclopedia of War and the 4-volume Encyclopedia of Diplomacy; the journals of A.L. Kennedy for the Royal Historical Society; numerous collections of essays, and the multi-volume Seminar Studies in History series. I am currently working on a two-volume study of Political Intelligence in Great Britain, 1900-1950, which is a group biography of the men who made up the Department of Political Intelligence in Britain, 1917-1919

Gordon's book list on why the First World War happened

Gordon Martel Why did Gordon love this book?

One of the most popular explanations for the outbreak of war between 1918 and 1939 was that it had been caused by the ‘Merchants of Death,’ i.e. the large armaments firms and their financiers who profited from international animosity. Although the conspiracy theory tendency in this belief gradually dissipated, the idea that the arms race was a significant contributory factor leading to war has long featured on any list of ‘causes’.

David Stevenson’s exhaustive research in the archives of most of the combatant states has provided us with massive and fascinating detail on the thinking of those involved and the relationship between geopolitical ambitions, strategic calculations, and financial realities. His treatment makes for fascinating reading, enhanced by crisply argued interpretations of the role of military and naval preparedness in the crises that plagued prewar Europe.

By David Stevenson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Armaments and the Coming of War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The global impact of the First World War dominated the history of the first half of the twentieth century. This major reassessment of the origins of the war, based on extensive original research in several countries, is the first full analysis of the politics of armaments in pre-1914 Europe.

David Stevenson directs attention away from the Anglo-German naval race towards the competition on land between the continental armies. He analyses the defence policies of the Powers, and the interaction between the growth of military preparedness and the diplomatic crises in the Mediterranean and the Balkans that culminated in the events…


Book cover of July Crisis: The World's Descent into War, Summer 1914

Gordon Martel Author Of The Origins of the First World War

From my list on why the First World War happened.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a historian of diplomacy, war, and empire. A founding editor of The International History Review, I have written books on ‘Imperial Diplomacy’, on the origins of the First World War, and on the July Crisis. I have edited: the 5-volume Encyclopedia of War and the 4-volume Encyclopedia of Diplomacy; the journals of A.L. Kennedy for the Royal Historical Society; numerous collections of essays, and the multi-volume Seminar Studies in History series. I am currently working on a two-volume study of Political Intelligence in Great Britain, 1900-1950, which is a group biography of the men who made up the Department of Political Intelligence in Britain, 1917-1919

Gordon's book list on why the First World War happened

Gordon Martel Why did Gordon love this book?

The First World War broke out in August 1914; by September 1914 articles and essays began to appear that defended – or attacked – the policies of the men responsible for the July Crisis. Books soon followed. And they have never stopped. No crisis in history has received more attention than that of July 1914. The topic, with its vast complexities, missed opportunities, and contradictory explanations, continues to fascinate us.

No book on the subject is more captivating than Thomas Otte’s day-by-day unravelling of the complicated diplomacy pursued by the statesmen of Europe. His mastery of the subject is impressive (he has written dozens of articles and essays on the diplomacy of prewar Europe) and his balanced treatment of the topic serves as a model of dispassionate scholarship.

By T. G. Otte,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked July Crisis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is a magisterial new account of Europe's tragic descent into a largely inadvertent war in the summer of 1914. Thomas Otte reveals why a century-old system of Great Power politics collapsed so disastrously in the weeks from the 'shot heard around the world' on June 28th to Germany's declaration of war on Russia on August 1st. He shows definitively that the key to understanding how and why Europe descended into world war is to be found in the near-collective failure of statecraft by the rulers of Europe and not in abstract concepts such as the 'balance of power' or…


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Book cover of Ambidextrous: The Secret Lives of Children

Ambidextrous by Felice Picano,

Bold, funny, and shockingly honest, Ambidextrous is like no other memoir of 1950s urban childhood.

Picano appears to his parents and siblings to be a happy, cheerful eleven-year-old possessed of the remarkable talent of being able to draw beautifully and write fluently with either hand. But then he runs into…

Book cover of The Bi-ble: Volume Two

Julia Shaw Author Of Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality

From my list on bisexuality research, history, and culture deep dive.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a psychological scientist, BBC science communicator, and best-selling author. I am also bisexual. As an academic, my tendency is to immediately look for research and scholarly writing about topics that interest me. But for bisexuality, I found that this was incredibly hard to do. So, I dug into archives and journals, connected with hundreds of bisexuality researchers and activists, and after much searching, I finally found the answers to questions I had had my entire life. I wrote them all down in my new book Bi.

Julia's book list on bisexuality research, history, and culture deep dive

Julia Shaw Why did Julia love this book?

If it’s personal accounts and many different voices you are looking for, The Bi-ble: Vol. 2 is perfect. It includes essays by various bisexual people, giving brief and poignant insights into their lives. 

This easy-to-read collection is a good example of the long tradition of anthologies in bi+ literature. Some stories are deeply relatable, others challenge you to look beyond your own experiences. It helped me to realise that while there is a commonality between the experiences of bisexual people, there are important individual differences that we need to keep in mind. No one person can speak for the entire bi community, so this book lets many people have their own voice.

Book cover of Cinema au Naturel: A History of Nudist Film
Book cover of Nudism in a Cold Climate: The Visual Culture of Naturists in Mid-20th Century Britain
Book cover of Naked as Nature Intended: The Epic Tale of a Nudist Picture

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