Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity

Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock

Anthony Comstock was Americaâ€™s first professional censor. From 1873 to 1915, as Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, Comstock led a crusade against lasciviousness, salaciousness, and obscenity that resulted in the confiscation and incineration of more than three million pictures, postcards, and books he judged to be obscene. But as Amy Werbel shows in this rich cultural and social history, Comstockâ€™s campaign to rid America of vice in fact led to greater acceptance of the materials he deemed objectionable, offering a revealing tale about the unintended consequences of censorship.

In Lust on Trial, Werbel presents a colorful journey through Comstockâ€™s career that doubles as a new history of postâ€“Civil War Americaâ€™s risquÃ© visual and sexual culture. Born into a puritanical New England community, Anthony Comstock moved to New York in 1868 armed with his Christian faith and a burning desire to rid the city of vice. Werbel describes how Comstockâ€™s raids shaped New York City and American culture through his obsession with the prevention of lust by means of censorship, and how his restrictions provided an impetus for the increased circulation and explicitness of â€œobsceneâ€ materials. By opposing women who preached sexual liberation and empowerment, suppressing contraceptives, and restricting artistic expression, Comstock drew the ire of civil liberties advocates, inspiring more open attitudes toward sexual and creative freedom and more sophisticated legal defenses. Drawing on material culture high and low, including numerous examples of the â€œobscenitiesâ€ Comstock seized, Lust on Trial provides fresh insights into Comstockâ€™s actions and motivations, the sexual habits of Americans during his era, and the complicated relationship between law and cultural change.
Country USA
Brand Columbia University Press
Manufacturer Columbia University Press
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780231175227
ReleaseDate 2018-04-17
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780231175227

Country	USA
Brand	Columbia University Press
Manufacturer	Columbia University Press
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780231175227
ReleaseDate	2018-04-17
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780231175227

Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock

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