Sin, sex & subversion : how what was taboo in 1950s New York became America's new normal
David Rosen (Author)
"During the tumultuous 1950s in America, sex was as threatening to the nation's moral order as communism. New York was the capital of the post-World War II world and the epicenter of a fierce culture war over music, theatre, movies, fashion, and literature, as well as birth control, homosexuality, adolescent sex, pornography, and prostitution. Over the last half-century, America's social life-especially notions of culture, sexuality, and politics-has fundamentally changed, and what were once sinful or subversive sexual practices have been integrated into the marketplace, irreversibly changing American moral values; the once illicit has become an industry of more than $50 billion. Drawing on first-person interviews, unpublished memoirs, newspaper accounts, contemporary studies, government documents, and recent scholarship, Sin, Sex & Subversion argues that "deviant" sexuality was subversive, and that unique New York "outsiders" of the 1950s set the stage for the following decades and the world we know today. In each chapter, author David Rosen examines a critical moral issue through an in-depth profile of figures such as Liberace, Samuel Roth, Bettie Page, the Rosenbergs, and others. Through these individuals, Rosen shows how those who operated outside the law or who challenged popular values, even if they were silenced in their time, ended up paving the way for a new normal"-- Provided by publisher
History
xiv, 422 pages ; 24 cm
9781631440441, 1631440446
909326902
Introduction
Outsiders : Christine Jorgensen
Honky-tonk : Times Square
Sin
Comic book corruption : BIll Gaines
Obscene image : Irving Klaw
Prurient word : Samuel Roth
Illicit performance : Club 82
Sex
Flesh trade : Polly Adler
Lavender Peril : Liberace
Identity crisis ; Milton Berle
Sex panic : Wilhelm Reich
The pill : Margaret Sanger
Subversion
Red scare : Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Freedom fighter : Paul Robeson
Radical voices : Howard Fast
Underworld : Frank Costello
Conclusion : Sin the new normal