The desires for erotica, Gertzman suggests, may have been as much about the taboo as about the sex. 3 Reformers receive nearly as much of Gertzman's attention as do traders, and it is here, on terrain that researchers have explored more thoroughly, that the book's interpretive shortcomings are evident. Most glaring is Gertzman's failure to consider any of the recent material on women's anti-obscenity activism in the interwar period. Doing so would have substantiated and simultaneously complicated his argument about prurience and the symbiosis between reform of and trade in erotica. But the historical literature on women's reform also challenges many of his claims.
Chronological coherence is equally elusive.
Thus, this volume will be most useful to those interested in anecdotal or reference material on the subject. 5 Leigh Ann Wheeler Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, Ohio Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.