Description
Book SynopsisIncluding short tales of urban life, editorials on prostitution, and moralizing rants against homosexuality, this work presents selections that epitomize a distinct form of urban journalism. Providing an overview of this colorful reportage, its editors, and its audience, it examines nineteenth-century ideas of sexuality and freedom.
Trade Review"A fascinating survey of the long-forgotten 'flash' newspapers of the 1840s and of the raucous urban sexual cultures, explosive sexual scandals, and heated debates over sexual liberty and morality those newspapers chronicled, provoked, and lampooned." - George Chauncey, author of Gay New York "The Flash Press is a virtuoso production on many levels, combining first-rate introductory essays, major archival discoveries, and meticulous care in selecting and organizing the primary documents. More than any collection I know, The Flash Press opens up entirely new vantage points on the nineteenth-century metropolis." - James W. Cook, author of The Arts of Deception: Playing with Fraud in the Age of Barnum"