Sin, Sex and Subversion Audiobook By David Rosen cover art

Sin, Sex and Subversion

How What Was Taboo in 1950s New York Became America's New Normal

Preview
Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Sin, Sex and Subversion

By: David Rosen
Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $29.95

Buy for $29.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

During the tumultuous 1950s in America, sex was as threatening to the nation's moral order as communism. New York was the capital of the post-World War II world and the epicenter of a fierce culture war over music, theatre, movies, fashion, and literature, as well as birth control, homosexuality, adolescent sex, pornography, and prostitution. Over the last half-century, America's social life - especially notions of culture, sexuality, and politics - has fundamentally changed, and what were once sinful or subversive sexual practices have been integrated into the marketplace, irreversibly changing American moral values; the once illicit has become an industry of more than $50 billion.

Drawing on first-person interviews, unpublished memoirs, newspaper accounts, contemporary studies, government documents, and recent scholarship, Sin, Sex & Subversion argues that "deviant" sexuality was subversive, and that unique New York "outsiders" of the 1950s set the stage for the following decades and the world we know today. In each chapter, author David Rosen examines a critical moral issue through an in-depth profile of figures such as Liberace, Samuel Roth, Bettie Page, the Rosenbergs, and others. Through these individuals, Rosen shows how those who operated outside the law or who challenged popular values, even if they were silenced in their time, ended up paving the way for a new normal.

©2016 David Rosen (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
20th Century Americas Modern Psychology Psychology & Mental Health State & Local United States New York
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
All stars
Most relevant  
So hard to finish. Starts strong with a lot of interesting info; the middle gets confusing when the author begins telling us the end of the story then goes back to beginning , th3re we literally and the inconsistent affectation, in

Interesting, Repetitive, and Annoying Narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

While not to be taken as historical gospel this book does a tremendous job of filling in the dark spots in Gotham’s history. 👍🏾

Captivating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Some interesting points and historical references buried in far left sometimes comical selections of included “facts” and innuendo while passing over completely or downplaying far more convincing facts refuting the author’s politically biased point of view. An excellent study of leftist propaganda.

Possibly the most biased spin on history ever written

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.