With "The Facts of Life," Hans Peter Duerr's critique of the myth of the civilization process is fully available in paperback, following "Nakedness and Shame" (1988), "Intimacy" (1990), "Obscenity and Violence" (1993), and "The Erotic Body" (1997). In this concluding volume, Duerr addresses the question of whether the "facts of life," which encompass areas of sexuality, physical maturation, bodily functions, and deviant behaviors, have indeed been increasingly subjected to the taboo of silence or euphemisms and pushed behind the scenes of public life throughout historical development, as claimed by Norbert Elias and his school.