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Sto caricando le informazioni... Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003di William N. Eskridge Jr.
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. This doorstop begins unpromisingly, with fifty pages devoted to the poetic artistry of Walt Whitman, which, as one might suspect, is completely irrelevant to the book's stated topic, whereupon follows a section almost as long devoted to internecine tactical disputes among nineteenth-century feminist leadership, which is, if anything, even less relevant. Had these fancies been resisted by author or editor, this would have been a relatively readable 300 page book instead of a 400 page groaner. When the author gets down to business, this is a pretty definitive delve into the subject of American sodomy legislation. The author is a better thinker than writer, though, and his verbosity makes this a difficult go; he never settles for one word when he can think of six, and piles example onto example when one or two would have done quite nicely. He comes to his task carrying a brief; indeed he wrote an amicus brief for the Supreme Court for consideration in the Lawrence case which overturned Texas' sodomy law at the turn of the century., and he states, albeit at book's end, that he wrote his book to persuade traditionalists that almost all legislation against sodomy is wrongheaded and counterproductive. His final chapter is an important meditation on the intersection of public opinion with legislative and judicial measures . One does, however, need to come to this with considerable persistence and a high degree of interest in the topic. ( ) While I was familiar with the decisions in Hardwick, Romer and Laurence this nuanced history of the cases and their social and historical contexts gave me great perspective on them and on their current analogs. Also, while perhaps not as viscerally satisfying, I appreciate the humanity brought to those on both sides, instances of really evil people in this history are rare. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimenti
From the Pentagon to the wedding chapel, there are few issues more controversial today than gay rights. As William Eskridge persuasively demonstrates in Dishonorable Passions, there is nothing new about this political and legal obsession. The American colonies and the early states prohibited sodomy as the crime against nature, but rarely punished such conduct if it took place behind closed doors. By the twentieth century, America's emerging regulatory state targeted degenerates and (later) homosexuals. The witch hunts of the McCarthy era caught very few Communists but ruined the lives of thousands of homosexuals. The nation's sexual revolution of the 1960s fueled a social movement of people seeking repeal of sodomy laws, but it was not until the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that private sex between consenting adults was decriminalized. With dramatic stories of both the hunted (Walt Whitman and Margaret Mead) and the hunters (Earl Warren and J. Edgar Hoover), Dishonorable Passions reveals how American sodomy laws affected the lives of both homosexual and heterosexual Americans. Certain to provoke heated debate, Dishonorable Passions is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of sexuality and its regulation in the United States Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)345.7302536Social sciences Law Criminal Law North America United StatesClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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