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CITY OF EROS

Name: CITY OF EROS
Author: Timothy J. Gilfoyle
ISBN: 0-393-02800-3

NEW YORK CITY, PROSTITUTION, AND THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF SEX, 1820-1920

by Timothy J. Gilfoyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 1992

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An original, impressively researched, and intriguing urban history—winner of the Allan Nevins Prize of the Society of American Historians—that explores the intersection of sex and the market in the Big Apple of the 19th century. Making extensive use of demographic analysis, land records, and newspaper accounts of the era, Gilfoyle (History/Loyola Univ.) demonstrates how N.Y.C., considered free of vice in the infant days of the republic, was rapidly transformed into a free-floating sexual emporium after the War of 1812. In a boom-and-bust economy fueled by immigrants and emerging industries, prostitution provided madams and hookers with a chance to become the best-paid female workers of the city, landlords with a lucrative and dependable source of income, and ``sporting males'' with an outlet for sexual activity outside marriage. It was a profession in remarkable flux: from early streetwalkers who occasionally solicited to supplement meager factory or domestic salaries, to a structured institution that advertised in guidebooks and business cards and that was visible all over the city in brothels, masked balls, music halls, saloons, and even the ``third floor'' of theaters. Gilfoyle masterfully re-creates the culture that grew up around the profession: the ``whorearchy'' of pimps, madams, and brothel owners (including such illustrious names as Livingston, Fish, and Hearst); Tammany ward bosses and cops on the take who skimmed off brothel profits; and stripteasing ``model artists,'' abortionists, distributors of contraceptives, and pornographers. Ultimately, the institution was driven underground in the Progressive Era less by the muckrakers, civic reformers, social hygienists, and anti-vice crusaders who fought it than by urban redevelopment, changing attitudes toward marriage, and better salaries for women. A revealing peek at a Gotham that exceeded our own in anything-goes sexual license and urban misery. (B&w photographs— not seen.)

Pub Date: Sept. 7, 1992

ISBN: 0-393-02800-3

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.