A01=American Antiquarian Society
A01=Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz
A01=Patricia Cline Cohen
A01=Timothy J. Gilfoyle
Author_American Antiquarian Society
Author_Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz
Author_Patricia Cline Cohen
Author_Timothy J. Gilfoyle
blackmail
brothel
Category=GBCS
Category=JBSF2
Category=NHT
censorship
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
expression
flash
fornication
freedom
gender
gossip
heterosexuality
history
homosexuality
journalism
law
libel
libertinism
libido
marquis de sade
marriage
masturbation
new york
nonfiction
obscenity
pimps
prostitution
queer
racism
rake
republicanism
scandal
sensationalism
sex workers
sexuality
sodomy
underworld
urban
victorian
weeklies
whip
Product details
- ISBN 9780226112343
- Weight: 397g
- Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 01 May 2008
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Obscene, libidinous, loathsome, lascivious. Those were just some of the ways critics described the nineteenth-century weeklies that covered and publicized New York City's extensive sexual underworld. Publications like the "Flash" and the "Whip" - distinguished by a captivating brew of lowbrow humor and titillating gossip about prostitutes, theater denizens, and sporting events - were not the sort generally bound in leather for future reference, and despite their popularity with an enthusiastic readership, they quickly receded into almost complete obscurity. Recently, though, two sizable collections of these papers have resurfaced, and in "The Flash Press" three renowned scholars provide a landmark study of their significance, as well as a wide selection of their ribald articles and illustrations.Including short tales of urban life, editorials on prostitution, and moralizing rants against homosexuality, these selections epitomize a distinct form of urban journalism.
Here, in addition to providing a thorough overview of this colorful reportage, its editors, and its audience, the authors examine nineteenth-century ideas of sexuality and freedom that mixed Tom Paine's republicanism with elements of the Marquis de Sade's sexual ideology. They also trace the evolution of censorship and obscenity law, showing how a string of legal battles ultimately led to the demise of the flash papers: editors were hauled into court, sentenced to jail for criminal obscenity and libel, and eventually pushed out of business - but not before they forever changed the debate over public sexuality and freedom of expression in America's most important city.
Patricia Cline Cohen is professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of The Murder of Helen Jewett. Timothy J. Gilfoyle is professor of history at Loyola University Chicago and the author of City of Eros. Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz is professor of American studies and history at Smith College and the author of Rereading Sex.
