Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography

Five stars for being a short, well written account covering something I like. I became aware of porn when I was a boy during the 70's in Pittsburgh. There were novelty stores, and pinball arcades downtown that had porn movie viewing machines. From age 13 on I’d play pinball and when opportunity arose I’d sneak back to feed the movie machines quarters and watch amazingly erotic films. I like reading about the history of porn and in general the coverage of the subject is sparse and disjointed. This was book a satisfying read. The coverage of this book is weighted towards the softcore magazine publishing aspect, but it was still fascinating. Rosen had enough to say about other aspects industry to keep my interest. Some readers may get bored with the main focus, which is Rosen’s experience in the magazine business. But he kept it moving and it was interesting. He discusses how three or four presidential administrations tried to squelch porn. And there is good coverage in several spots about the Traci Lords saga (which I did not know much about other than what she said). The best part of the book was the in sections (mainly later in the book) with some coverage of how the internet affected the magazine industry and some similar good coverage of the VCR and its evolution and effects. Exactly the kind of stuff I want to read about.

Robert Rosen’s Beaver Street is an extremely engaging account of the rise of pornography in New York City, the United States and the world.How did I not know about Traci Lords? You’ll have to read the book to find out why all, but one, of her pornography films are banned in the United States. In addition to Lords, Rosen chronicles the rise and fall of ‘Free Phone Sex’. The link between porn, Marvel Comics' Captain America and Stan Lee. The link between porn and the rise of Mario Puzo and The Godfather. And a lot more.Rosen said it well when he related that pornography is about “[...] using sex to separate people from their money.”

I read this as background research for a novel I am writing set during the so-called golden age of porn which is roughly the years 1972 through 1984. The author worked for High Society, Swank and was the editor of D Cup magazine as well as some others. The book was somewhat engaging and gave me an insiders view of the industry, an industry he views with disgust yet worked in it for sixteen years ( he started in the early 80s ) so I don't know if this is a moralistic posture or his real opinion...If something is truly soul corrupting wouldn't you leave? He wasn't a total loser. He's not much in the looks department, but he's a decent writer. So my take is that this is posturing because he didn't leave the industry until he was fired. This was at a time ( the 90's ) when porn magazines had become completely unprofitable anyway because the internet had stolen the market...an industry he shows no interest in.He lived for a while with one of the female editors of a well known porn magazine...I was surprised by how many skin mags had female editors...a women he describes as someone who got cranky if she didn't have an orgasm at least every 7 hours. I found this ironic because this time period was the hay day of the second wave feminist and WAP movement ( Women Against Pornography ). She also tried to unsuccessfully hide her occupation from her sixteen year old daughter who at sixteen worked at the ticket booth of a Times Square porn theater.He shows the anti-porn folks as the true hypocrites ( and criminals ) that they were( are ) especially Meese - who Dante would have consigned to a very low level in hell and Traci Lords who should be the poster child of game theory because she gamed the system so thoroughly to her own advantage...a woman so self-consciously wanton that a judge even said that child pornography laws weren't meant to cover a person like her.If you are looking for erotica, then look elsewhere because this is more a personal history of the U.S. porn magazine industry...unless of course you were home schooled in a fundy home...in which case you may find it shocking that people like to view pictures of other people having sex in every possible way imaginable. But, if want a history, then it's definitely worth reading.I am only giving it 4 stars because it falls apart a little at the end and could have been more thorough in my opinion. But, there aren't a whole lot of insider accounts of this industry, so its worthwhile. He also wrote a book on John Lennon.  Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon  which I have not read.

Good narrative of an interesting subject.

Fascinating... exciting... magnificent...Can't get over the fact that there was a (porn) life BEFORE internet.Long live the good old porn magazines! :)

encore un très bon livre pour ceux qui veulent savoir comment la pornographie s'est développée des débuts à internet. à lire!

Having an interesting surname, as in the Beaver Street title I purchased this book. As of yet I have not read it and will keep it for a rainy day or embarrass a member of my surnamed family and give it to them as a wrapped gift.