| For Business and Pleasure: Red-Light Districts and the Regulation of Vice in the United States, 1890-1933 Contributor(s): Keire, Mara Laura (Author) |
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ISBN: 0801894131 ISBN-13: 9780801894138 Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press OUR PRICE: $61.75 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2010 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Gender Studies - History | United States - 20th Century - History | Social History |
| Dewey: 363.409 |
| LCCN: 2009020233 |
| Series: Studies in Industry and Society |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 6.1" W x 9" (1.05 lbs) 248 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Mara L. Keire's history of red-light districts in the United States offers readers a fascinating survey of the business of pleasure from the 1890s through the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. Anti-vice reformers in the late nineteenth century accepted that complete eradication of disreputable pleasure was impossible. Seeking a way to regulate rather than eliminate prostitution, alcohol, drugs, and gambling, urban reformers confined sites of disreputable pleasure to red-light districts in cities throughout the United States. They dismissed the extremes of prohibitory law and instead sought to limit the impact of vice on city life through realistic restrictive measures. Keire's thoughtful work examines the popular culture that developed within red-light districts, as well as efforts to contain vice in such cities as New Orleans; Hartford, Connecticut; New York City; Macon, Georgia; San Francisco; and El Paso, Texas. Keire describes the people and practices in red-light districts, reformers' efforts to limit their impact on city life, and the successful closure of the districts during World War I. Her study extends into Prohibition and discusses the various effects that scattering vice and banning alcohol had on commercial nightlife. |