The Forbidden Apple: A Century of Sex & Sin in New York City
"Theres a great history of racy entertainment covering itself, if scantily, in a cloak of righteous education. Kat Long describes these protective measures, or ruses...Long also chronicles the way that initiatives to eradicate vice only helped pave the way for its further evolution in the city."—New York Times Book Review\ "[Kat] Long covers the great upheavals that have pushed the advantage in the sex wars one way or the other..."—Village Voice\ “Long's The Forbidden Apple is a fast-paced...
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The endless battle between outlaw sex and moral righteousness in America's most licentious city. Publishers Weekly From brothels on the Bowery to the crusade to retake Times Square, journalist Long ("chief writer" of the guidebook Sexy New York City) examines the bawdiest characters and exploits in New York City's history, and those determined to ruin the fun. Contextualizing the gritty, bopping, libidinous culture that most associate with New York in the 20th century, Long introduces readers to outcasts of all kinds, outraged moralists like Anthony Comstock and Ed Koch, popular Prohibition-era dances (the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Lindy Hop), and iconic phenomena like the film Deep Throat. Long also covers civil rights milestones for gays and women (the 1969 Stonewall Riots, the 1970 Women's Strike for Equality), and her reach, for much of the book, is far enough to make an apt general history of the city from Reconstruction. Unfortunately, Long's fastidious research hasn't discouraged a decidedly liberal bias ("free love" gets unconditional respect, Gov. Giuliani's clean-up initiatives are condemned on sentimental grounds). Further, the final chapters focus narrowly on Times Square, devolving into a somewhat tiresome diatribe/eulogy. Long should capture the interest of New York history aficionados, but only if they tend to share her lefty permissiveness and it-was-better-when sentimentality. 11 b&w photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction 91 The Dastardly Do-Gooders, 1873-1918 152 Modern Madness, 1919-1929 493 Burlesque and the Bishop, 1930-1940 694 The Undesirables, 1941-1955 955 Prurient Interests, 1956-1968 1176 Your Most Fantastic Fantasies, 1969-1979 1437 Rise and Fall, 1980-1993 1818 Disney vs. the Dirty Debutantes, 1994-2000 221Epilogue: The Wickedest City 246Notes 250Bibliography 274Index 282
\ Publishers WeeklyFrom brothels on the Bowery to the crusade to retake Times Square, journalist Long ("chief writer" of the guidebook Sexy New York City) examines the bawdiest characters and exploits in New York City's history, and those determined to ruin the fun. Contextualizing the gritty, bopping, libidinous culture that most associate with New York in the 20th century, Long introduces readers to outcasts of all kinds, outraged moralists like Anthony Comstock and Ed Koch, popular Prohibition-era dances (the Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Lindy Hop), and iconic phenomena like the film Deep Throat. Long also covers civil rights milestones for gays and women (the 1969 Stonewall Riots, the 1970 Women's Strike for Equality), and her reach, for much of the book, is far enough to make an apt general history of the city from Reconstruction. Unfortunately, Long's fastidious research hasn't discouraged a decidedly liberal bias ("free love" gets unconditional respect, Gov. Giuliani's clean-up initiatives are condemned on sentimental grounds). Further, the final chapters focus narrowly on Times Square, devolving into a somewhat tiresome diatribe/eulogy. Long should capture the interest of New York history aficionados, but only if they tend to share her lefty permissiveness and it-was-better-when sentimentality. 11 b&w photos. \ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \
