Book Recommendations

[ratscabies]

Seems obvious, but isn't Masters and Johnson from that era?

[chonies]

Dec 12, 2016 12:21:17 GMT -4 ratscabies said:

Seems obvious, but isn't Masters and Johnson from that era?

Masters and Johnson were working in the mid/late 1960s and the Kinsey reports were ca. 1950 or so, so their research would have been done on a population set that isn't quite right, either. I mean, they'll do but when I was researching, the precise demographic I'm looking for was somewhat absent. I also have the Everything YOu Wanted to Know About Sex (but were afraid to ask), and that's not quite what I'm looking for.

It's occurred to me that I post too many Goldilocks questions.

[ratscabies]

Sadly, I actually meant Kinsey, but went with M&J because the tv show is stuck in my head...

Taking my life in my hands... Back issues of Playboy? Either the Playboy Advisor column or Hef's "Playboy Philosophy" editorials (that might have been collected into a book)?

[chonies]

Playboy might work, if I can find it. This article had some great contemporary sources--I meant to dig out the old Reader's Guides today but I had actual stupid work to stupid do. The scenario is something like, "a wholesome but not dumb cornfed American man ~21-23 finds himself in an unconventional situation," and I'm pretty sure I just created the most supportive, understanding chap of all time, and that's not good for conflict.

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

Dec 12, 2016 9:20:16 GMT -4 chonies said:

This is a mix of "Everything you wanted to know" and a bit of other stuff, but can anyone recommend a book, movie, documentary or even a thoughtful long-form article that deals with actual sexuality of young people in the 1950s? I would also love information about young people's sexual lives in Europe from the same time period. I didn't win NaNoWriMo this year, but I like my idea enough to keep it around, and my story is about a young man in 1950s New York City*, so things...I need a bit more information about.

*Not Holden Caulfield.

I had to look through my own archives, but a few places to start that may or may not help: Elaine Taylor May, Homeward Bound*,Beth Bailey, Sex in the Heartland**,John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman, Intimate Matters,*** and a chapter by Joanne Meyerowitz in Karen Hagemann and Sonya Michel, eds., Gender and the Long Postwar: Reconsiderations of the United States and the Two Germanys, 1945-1989 (Johns Hopkins University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2014), 297-319.****


*May makes connections between the idea of Cold War containment and conservatism and how it carried over to sexuality. My personal opinion is that it doesn't scratch the surface, but for the topic, this is considered an important part of the canon in studies on Cold War sexuality. My suggestion is to skim it to get an idea of the thesis she puts forth and move on.

**Don't let the title fool ya. It's about more than what was going on in the Heartland. Bailey challenges notions of Cold War sexual conservatism by scratching the surface and digging deeper than purported public norms. She makes a pretty good case for the dichotomy between public norms and private acts.

***D'Emilio and Freedman: Sort of what Bailey was getting at, too. IIRC, their work came before Beth Bailey's and she sort of built on the thesis they put forth that challenged May's.

****Includes a nice thumbnail lit review on the topic of Cold War Era sexuality.

All of the above is about American sexual mores during the Cold War, so I can't offer much in the way of what was happening in Europe or what's been written about it.

Lastly, I'd suggest taking a look at canonical fiction and drama of the time as well as works that are considered "low art" like dime store novels and such, ones that contains sexual themes. There is a plethora of scholarly articles and books written about works both canonical and not-so, um, canonical. And, this is just my opinoin, but, the stories we choose to make up tell us as much about an epoch as actual documented quantitative data does. Lit Crit, particularly in Women's Studies, might be one place to look that can give you ideas about what novels or plays from the era that might be of interest. If nothing else, perusing the lit crit bibs and the bibs of the above authors will also net you some juicy quantitative data sources.

[chonies]

KE, I could kiss you right now (long distance smooch!). THANK YOU. I'm very much not a lit person so I've been looking at the contemporary bestseller lists, but since so many of the movies at the time portrayed sex as DOOM! DOOOOOM! especially for women, I was wondering if that was the reality or if it was all unheeded morality tales.

[cabbagekid]

My niece is turning 13 and she loves books and all she wants for her birthday are books. Any recommendations for pre-teen/teen books? She's pretty mature for her age.

[Gigiree]

The books by John Green (The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines) are quite popular with the middle school-high school age group. I've read a couple myself and really enjoyed them, plus there are also movie versions of at least two of the books, which is always kind of fun to watch after reading the book.

[ladyboy]

My 10 year old likes the author Wendy Mass.

[Deleted]

The last few years I have made a few book related New Year resolutions. Last year it was to read more stuff outside my usual genres (mystery and chick lit) and borrow more books from the library rather than buying. Both went pretty well. This year I want to read more books by POC. I have a pretty good list for literary fiction but does any one have any recommendations for mystery and horror books? I'm not as big into fantasy but I would take suggestions for that too. I have read some Walter Mosely and Stephanie Cha. It was actually Cha's Juniper Song books that inspired this resolution. So if anyone else is interested in this or just good books with a lady detective I recommend her.

The other thing I am looking for and this is a longshot but feminist Western novels? Not necessarily set in modern times but written by a relatively modern author. So not Willa Cather which is all I've turned up so far. I know there have been a few recent Western movies that would fit this: Meek's Creek, The Keeping Room and maybe The Horseman but I'm coming up blank for books.