Offering the first history of protective masks, The Mask explores how facial coverings have sparked hopes, passions, and fears. By documenting historical shifts in ideas about masks, this book illustrates how the decision to wear a mask is shaped by culture, class, gender, and our deepest beliefs. Bruno J. Strasser and Thomas Schlich captivate readers with stories of individuals - from renowned doctors and political leaders to forgotten inventors and anonymous factory workers - who passionately debated the value of masks. In Renaissance Italy and Meiji Japan, in Victorian Britain and Cold War America, the way societies have engaged with face coverings reveals their deepest cultural and political fractures. The Mask challenges us to reconsider how we care for one another and the kind of environment we aspire to inhabit.