Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin FROM THE PUBLISHER
Between 1921 and 1933, Berlin developed a reputation for debauchery unrivaled by any city before or since. Unlike European capitals like Paris, Barcelona, and Amsterdam, where brothel districts were extensive but discreet, in Berlin sexual tourism was a primary industry. On any given evening, over 600 establishments, from massage parlors to sex clubs to cabarets to private torture dungeons, promised unique sights and pleasures.
Using tourist guidebooks that appeared before the Nazi period, historical memoirs, and more than 400 specialized journals and books, Mel Gordon has put together a controversial exploration of Berlin's erotic demiworld and its relationship to the rise of Nazism.
SYNOPSIS
Voluptuous Panic is the first illustrated book that traces Weimar Berlin's intimate and forbidden offerings that were found in revue houses, cabaret performances, erotic lounges and cinema (both straight and gay), popular galleries, nudist societies, and erotic publications. It is based on one-dozen tourist guidebooks that appeared before the Nazi period, various historical memoirs, and more than four hundred specialized journals and books. Over 300 illustrations and photographs appear in Voluptuous Panic -- nearly everything is published here for the first time since Adolf Hitler declared Germany a pure and moral Reichsland.
ACCREDITATION
Mel Gordon is Professor of Dramatic Art at the Univeristy of California, Berkeley.
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