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WHORES IN HISTORY

PROSTITUION IN WESTERN SOCIETY

`` 'Tis Pity She's a Whore,'' wrote playwright John Ford in 1633, summing up society's general attitude toward prostitutes. But Roberts, a former London ``sex worker'' (i.e., stripper), begs to disagree—and, in this impressively researched history, she offers an articulate socioeconomic/political defense of the reputedly oldest profession. Taking on the male academics whom she claims are the primary writers about prostitution, as well as feminists who ``tend to regard all prostitution as female sexual slavery,'' Roberts contends that ``in a society which worships money and material achievements to the extent that ours does, becoming a prostitute is a rational decision for a woman to make.'' She roots this argument in a vigorously detailed chronicle that ranges from prehistoric matriarchal societies to today's male-dominated world in which prostitutes are organizing into guilds such as PONY (Prostitutes of New York). Prostitution, Roberts says, began with the dawn of patriarchy, when kings ruled but the Goddess and her priestesses- -``sacred'' prostitutes—held spiritual sway. But by 2000 B.C., ``the division of women into wives and whores'' was set. Drawing on historical and literary sources, Roberts traces prostitution as a socioeconomic phenomenon through ancient Greece and Rome, medieval times, the Renaissance, and on to the present, finding that, despite an enduring hypocrisy by which men have always turned to whores while at the same time branding them with a ``stigma'' (``the original tool of patriarchal oppression''), prostitution has proven for many working-class women the most viable way to escape poverty. According to one 1980 survey of English prostitutes, in fact, ``over 70% were single mothers.'' Some of Roberts's findings are surprising and debatable—e.g., that ``whores are not a high-risk category for AIDS''—but, overall, this vital and original study goes a long way toward restoring the dignity of a much-maligned group of outcasts. (Photographs.)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 1992

ISBN: 0-246-13234-5

Page Count: 380

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

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

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