Customer Reviews

Girls Lean Back Everywhere: The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius

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This is an amazing book. In Girls Lean Back Everywhere, de Grazia gives a good history of censorship in the United States. James Joyce, Henry Miller, William Burroughs, Radclyffe Hall et al, have faced the blade of the censor. Lenny Bruce, The Swedish film I Am Curious, Robert Mapplethorpe and 2 Live Crew are also discussed in this book. This book packs a lot of information about the great (and not so great) literature and art that has been banned in the United States. While some of the work might be mediocre it still most be protected. 2 Live Crew may not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as James Joyce but one should at least have the choice to do so. That is one of the basic arguments of the book. Unless a book or artwork can be shown to be utterly without socially redeeming value, it must be protected by the First Amendment. Some of the court transcription of various trials are fascinating. I came to revere great men such as Barney Rossett and Judge William Brennan (who I paraphrased earlier in the review) for their efforts in making free expression just that: free. It is a book that should be read by lovers of literature and art. It should be read by anyone hesitant to have their First Amendment Rights get Borked. America would be the richer if this book sat on coffee tables all across the country. It strengthened my faith in the First Amendment and strengthened my resolve to fight for its preservation. A book like this should be read in colleges so kids can learn about the Comstockian fools that occasionally muster up steam enough to run amok over the Constitutional liberties the rest of us would like to enjoy.

I encountered this book in my researches on the first amendment. It provides hard to find information and intriguing details and the rarely heard backgrounds to the many cases which it discusses. As such, it is a very useful research tool, and a captivating read for those who are interested in Domestic Obscenity or similar fields. Despite this, I found the organization difficult to follow, and the information somewhat densely presented.

All those on the Right on the censorship issue should read this book. Perhaps a few minds would be changed. The story of the two women that brought <Ulysses> out in this country is especially interesting.

---- Al Hromjak

I should chime in with the other reviews here on Amazon that this is an interesting history of an interesting social phenomena and especially that it includes the very sort of excerpts that have made such a history clear. Many of those excerpts are from the relevant texts but also there are pertinent transcripts from governmental progress/regress regarding the issue of obscenity in the courts and congress. This book is an excellent source for such materials as well as an overall view of the history. Some of the chosen excerpts are hilarious in retrospect and the book is written to capitalize on this.