Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 310
Trim: 0 x 0
978-0-7425-5132-9 • Paperback • July 2007 • $42.00 • (£32.00)
978-0-7425-7275-1 • eBook • July 2007 • $39.50 • (£30.00)
John E. Semonche is professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. An authority on American constitutional and legal history, he is the author of numerous articles and books, including Keeping the Faith: A Cultural History of the U.S. Supreme Court and Religion and Constitutional Government in the United States.
1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Books and Periodicals: Seduction by the Written Word and Maybe a Picture or Two Chapter 3 2. Paintings, Sculptures, and Other Pictorial Arts: You Call Dirty Pictures Art? Chapter 4 3. The Movies: Teaching the Wrong Lessons and in the Dark As Well Chapter 5 4. Music and Dance: Stirring the Senses and Unleashing the Beast Chapter 6 5. Radio, Television, and the Internet: Home Invaders 7 Epilogue
[A]n engaging scholarly study as well as something of a witty rejoinder to those who would seek to impose their own personal values on the creativity of others. The combination of accessible writing and solid research make it equally useful for intellectual pursuits and weekend reading. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries....
—
Fascinating and eminently readable, Censoring Sex traces the paradoxical history of America's simultaneous obsession with, and fear of, that 'great and mysterious motive force in human life'?human sexuality.....
— Marjorie Heins
By revisiting large and small instances of censorship, Semonche's history finds new levels of detail in cases that are usually glossed over. Moral concerns over representations of sexuality and gender shaped the evolution of American media, and Censoring Sex traces them with both care and flair....
— Joseph W. Slade
Semonche's book, with its many stories and succinct discussion of court cases, besides being an important and highly readable history of sex and censorship, is a must for anyone interested in free speech and the First Amendment.....
—
Historian Semonche takes readers on a fascinating trip....Recommended.....
—