At the end of “Plucked: A history of hair removal” Rebecca M. Herzig describes the variously surprised, horrified and disgusted reactions of colleagues and friends to the topic she had chosen: a history of hair removal in the United States from colonial times to the present. “Drop the hair thing”, one friend advised, “It’s stupid”. “Well”, sniffed a colleague, “I suppose everyone has to work on something.” Herzig demonstrates that the subject is neither stupid nor vaguely “something”. She begins at the United States government’s...