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Product Identifiers
PublisherColumbia University Press
ISBN-100231175221
ISBN-139780231175227
eBay Product ID (ePID)242529496
Product Key Features
Book TitleLust on Trial : Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock
Number of Pages408 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicUnited States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, De, Md, NJ, NY, Pa), United States / 20th Century, Sociology / General, United States / 19th Century, General, Censorship
Publication Year2018
IllustratorYes
GenreLaw, Political Science, Social Science, History
AuthorAmy Werbel
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.2 in
Item Weight27.6 Oz
Item Length9.3 in
Item Width7.1 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2017-042441
ReviewsWerbel's book is well worth reading; it adds to our understanding of the transformation of American culture in the early decades of the twentieth century., A richly detailed, deeply researched and lavishly illustrated account of Comstock's career and legacy., A visually striking book. . . . Historians will appreciate Werbel's attention to uncovering the stories of everyday Americans who found themselves in Comstock's crosshairs, and her book will make a lively addition to undergraduate and graduate courses on the histories of art, obscenity, and sexuality., In this vibrant history, Amy Werbel explores the legal and cultural battles surrounding the censorship of "obscene" materials in late nineteenth and early twentieth century New York. Lust on Trial not only mines the history of censorship and repression in a modernizing America, but also sheds light on its legacy for current debates., An insightful and entertaining critical examination of the prominent American censor Anthony Comstock (1844-1915)... [a] fascinating, page-turning study., Amy Werbel probably now knows more about Anthony Comstock than anyone alive today. (And oh, how deliciously unpleasant some of that knowledge is!) There's a sense of discovery that keeps this narrative moving., Amy Werbel's new study turns up other surprises that will make the work of interest to students of art history as well as readers with an interest in gender and LGBTQ history., Making good use of recent monographic studies of mass media and the history of sexuality, the author, an associate professor of the history of art at the Fashion Institute of Technology, places the architect and chief executor of U.S. anti-obscenity law in a thick social and cultural context., In this meticulously researched study, Amy Werbel traces the rise--and eventual decline--of the figure whose name became synonymous with censorship in nineteenth-century America. She delineates how Anthony Comstock's policing of erotic imagery touched on diverse areas of the nation's civic life, from religion, politics, and the law to art and popular culture. In so doing, she illuminates the distinctive commingling of prudishness and prurience that shapes the American cultural imagination to this day., Amy Werbel's Lust on Trial offers a brilliant analysis of the life and times of Anthony Comstock, the fiercely religious moralist who led the national campaign to rid the United States of sexual expression from 1873 until his death in 1915. As Werbel powerfully demonstrates, Comstock's efforts to persuade the nation that such expression "corrupts the mind . . . and damns the soul" perilously threatened our nation's separation of church and state. This lesson in how religious fanaticism can destroy our freedom is now more important than ever., An insightful and entertaining critical examination of the prominent American censor Anthony Comstock (1844-1915). . . . [a] fascinating, page-turning study.
Dewey Edition23
Dewey Decimal306.771097309034
Table Of ContentList of Illustrations Introduction 1. Anthony Comstock, From Canaan to Gotham 2. Onward Christian Soldiers: Creating the Industry and Infrastructure of American Vice Suppression 3. Taming America's "Rich" and "Racy" Underbelly (Volume I: 1871-1884) 4. Artists, Libertarians, and Lawyers Unite: The Rise of the Resistance (Volume II: 1884-1895) 5. New Women, New Technology, and the Demise of Comstockery (Volume III: 1895-1915) Conclusion: Postmortem Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Selected Books, Articles, and Digital Resources Index
SynopsisAmy Werbel provides a colorful journey through professional censor Anthony Comstock's career that doubles as a history of post-Civil War America's risqué visual and sexual culture. Lust on Trial provides fresh insights into Comstock, the sexual habits of Americans during his era, and the complicated relationship between law and cultural change., Anthony Comstock was America's first professional censor. From 1873 to 1915, as Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, Comstock led a crusade against lasciviousness, salaciousness, and obscenity that resulted in the confiscation and incineration of more than three million pictures, postcards, and books he judged to be obscene. But as Amy Werbel shows in this rich cultural and social history, Comstock's campaign to rid America of vice in fact led to greater acceptance of the materials he deemed objectionable, offering a revealing tale about the unintended consequences of censorship. In Lust on Trial, Werbel presents a colorful journey through Comstock's career that doubles as a new history of post-Civil War America's risqué visual and sexual culture. Born into a puritanical New England community, Anthony Comstock moved to New York in 1868 armed with his Christian faith and a burning desire to rid the city of vice. Werbel describes how Comstock's raids shaped New York City and American culture through his obsession with the prevention of lust by means of censorship, and how his restrictions provided an impetus for the increased circulation and explicitness of "obscene" materials. By opposing women who preached sexual liberation and empowerment, suppressing contraceptives, and restricting artistic expression, Comstock drew the ire of civil liberties advocates, inspiring more open attitudes toward sexual and creative freedom and more sophisticated legal defenses. Drawing on material culture high and low, including numerous examples of the "obscenities" Comstock seized, Lust on Trial provides fresh insights into Comstock's actions and motivations, the sexual habits of Americans during his era, and the complicated relationship between law and cultural change., Anthony Comstock was America's first professional censor. From 1873 to 1915, as Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, Comstock led a crusade against lasciviousness, salaciousness, and obscenity that resulted in the confiscation and incineration of more than three million pictures, postcards, and books he judged to be obscene. But as Amy Werbel shows in this rich cultural and social history, Comstock's campaign to rid America of vice in fact led to greater acceptance of the materials he deemed objectionable, offering a revealing tale about the unintended consequences of censorship. In Lust on Trial, Werbel presents a colorful journey through Comstock's career that doubles as a new history of post-Civil War America's risqu visual and sexual culture. Born into a puritanical New England community, Anthony Comstock moved to New York in 1868 armed with his Christian faith and a burning desire to rid the city of vice. Werbel describes how Comstock's raids shaped New York City and American culture through his obsession with the prevention of lust by means of censorship, and how his restrictions provided an impetus for the increased circulation and explicitness of "obscene" materials. By opposing women who preached sexual liberation and empowerment, suppressing contraceptives, and restricting artistic expression, Comstock drew the ire of civil liberties advocates, inspiring more open attitudes toward sexual and creative freedom and more sophisticated legal defenses. Drawing on material culture high and low, including numerous examples of the "obscenities" Comstock seized, Lust on Trial provides fresh insights into Comstock's actions and motivations, the sexual habits of Americans during his era, and the complicated relationship between law and cultural change.
LC Classification NumberHV6705W47 2018
