City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 [Paperback]

Timothy J. Gilfoyle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 1994

Winner of the Allan Nevins Prize of the Society of American Historians and the New York State Historical Association Manuscript Prize.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A wonderful book. The research is overwhelming in breadth, precision, and imagination. City of Eros beautifully portrays an aspect of social and urban, as well as economic history, which we can no longer ignore. (Mary P. Ryan, University of California, Berkeley )

Gilfoyle has tied together into one package the interrelationship between the role and status of women, American ideas about sex, the effects of urbanization and immigration, real estate speculation, vigilantism, and politics. . . . In short, he has effectively brought issues of sexuality into social history. . . . Deserving of the highest praise. (Vern L. Bullough - Historian )

A fascinating study. . . . Gilfoyle does not simply catalogue the omnipresence of the postitutes. He situates their trade in the economic life of the city. . . . City of Eros is social history at its best, beautifully written, with a mosaic of rich detail that informs but does not overwhelm the narrative line. (David Nasaw - New York Times Book Review )

Remarkable. . . . [A] clear and fascinating narrative . . . [that] opens up plenty of new lines of inquiry. . . . A major contribution to the history of gender, popular culture, and the life of New York City. (Elliott J. Gorn - Journal of American History )

The first careful analysis of the politics, geography, and business of prostitution in the nation's metropolis. With grace and style, Timothy Gilfoyle has moved the subject from the shadows to the light. (Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University )

About the Author

Timothy J. Gilfoyle is an acclaimed historian. His first book, City of Eros, won the prestigious Nevins Prize, awarded by the Society of American Historians. He is professor of history at Loyola University in Chicago.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (March 17, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393311082
• ISBN-13: 978-0393311082
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A real eye opener, February 20, 2001

By 

Kimberly S. Stanley (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 (Paperback)

This book was fascinating. I suppose I am not that well educated, because I had no idea how prevalent and how public prostitution was in the nineteenth century.

This book intricately weaves capitalism, social custom, and sex into a compelling narrative of nineteenth century New York City. The author doesn't just say that prostitution was prevalent, he cites newspapers, letters, public records, art, novels, circulars and other publications from the 1900s, which leave the reader in no doubt that prostitution was one of the leading industries of NYC at that time. The image of packs of teenage prostitutes roaming Broadway and the Bowery, (some as young as 10 or 12), will stay with me forever.

The writer goes on to illustrate how the lack of career opportunities for women and the exorbitant rents of Manhattan drove many women into the sex business. For most of these women, there were few choices: live in extreme poverty or turn a few tricks and have decent lodgings, food and clothing. Most of these women didn't think of themselves as "fallen". They were doing what was necessary to survive. They went willingly into prostitution so that their lives could be better. Ironically, although it was business that victimized and objectified women, prostitution gave many of them entrepreneurial opportunities. The sex business made some women rich.

It is interesting to note that the very society that reviled these women directly benefited from the real estate boom that the sex business made possible. Poor people couldn't have afforded the high rents, but prostitutes were able to. Once landlords realized how much more prostitutes could pay, they were happy to have them instead of "decent people". Not only did prostitutes pay higher rents, but they also paid police and politicians to "look the other way". A huge political machine grew up around the sex industry that aided and abetted it. Almost everyone had heard of Tammany Hall.

When you add in the fact that it became "trendy" during the 1900s for men to live the "Sporting Life" (prostitutes, gambling, drinking, boxing - all around partying), the flourishing of prostitution seems inevitable.

Eventually, the changing landscape of the real estate business, the increase of career opportunies for women, the availability of birth control, the changing attitudes towards sex and marriage, and a marked increase in benevolent societies designed to assist the poor and needy made the downfall of prostitution as inevitable as its rise.

This was a truly fascinating book. Normally it takes me weeks and weeks to plough through one of these non-fiction historical types of books, (even though I love them!), but I breezed through this one in about 4 days. I would recommend it to anyone, but particularly to those interested in the history of New York City, sex, and/or women.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Changing Commercialization of Sex, November 9, 2000

By 

Ricky Hunter (New York City, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 (Paperback)

Timothy J. Gilfoyle's City of Eros looks at New York City in its "century of prostitution", roughly from 1820 to 1920. He gives much more than a narrative history (although certainly many personalities and stories do shine through) as he looks at the broader picture and includes a taste of nineteenth sociology, a dash of its politics, and a smidgen of its literature and culture as it pertains to sex. Through the entire book, the most strongly drawn character becomes New York City itself as the reader is almost invited to see a city that is teeming with commercial sex throughout the entire island of Manhattan. The commercialization of sex, despite the efforts of vice puritans, changes more because the city changes. It was interesting to see the commercialization of sex tied in with other forms of commerical enterprise. A fitting companion to this book would be The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cline Cohen. Read Timothy Gilfoyle's book for the broader picture and Patricia Cohen's for some of the finer, more personal details. A wonderful read with much information.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dry prose fails to dent an excellent depiciton of sleazy Olde New Yorke, June 25, 2006

By 

mojo_navigator - See all my reviews

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This review is from: City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920 (Paperback)

I will start with the negative comments regarding this book and say that the prose does tend to be somewhat dry. This does not make for the easiest of readings and additionally, I often found Gilfoyle's tendency to state a point and then simply list examples of individuals to back his claim tedious and clumsy.

Also, the focus is somewhat meandering. Despite the title, City Of Eros doesn't necessarily stick to it's topic of prostitution but ends up venturing into the areas of pornography and literature. There is one utterly pointless chapter entitled 'A Gay Literature' which deals exculsively with the role of the prostitute in literature which I felt was wholly unnecessary and diverting.

But this is where the criticisms end. In the main, City of Eros is a splendidly researched piece that at it's best moments, truly conjures up the spirit, atmosphere and grunge of 19th Century New York. The slums of Five Points is truly brought to life as is the general experience of being a prostitute/madam/pimp/customer in those times. The sense that one comes away with is that of a city riddled with overt prostitution - it was everywhere, in plain view and considered to be an integral and accepted part of New York society. It's also interesting to note how little has changed regarding the media's hysterical portrayal of prostitution. The truth is that, then as now, coercion was rarely employed. Most women who engaged in this kind of activity did so for short periods of time in between employment or even to supplement the low incomes earned as seamstresses and servants.

Also noteworthy are the vivid descriptions of the male sporting culture which viewed the frequenting of brothels and promiscuity as being expressions of ultra-masculine behavior, expressions that reflected a rebellion against the taming and control of male sexuality that marriage was percieved to have involved.

New York was definitely a rough and wild town once upon a time. City Of Eros does an excellent job in conjuring up that wildness for our dainty 21st Century sensibilities.