Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture [Paperback]

Lewis A. Erenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1984 | ISBN-10: 0226215156 | ISBN-13: 978-0226215150

The evolution of New York nightlife from the Gay Nineties through the Jazz Age was, as Lewis A. Erenberg shows, both symbol and catalyst of America's transition out of the Victorian period. Cabaret culture led the way to new styles of behavior and consumption, dissolving conventional barriers between classes, races, the sexes—even between life and art. A fabulous era of chorus girls, jazz players, lobster palaces, and hip flasks—the age of Sophie Tucker, Irene and Vernon Castle, and Gilda Gray—tangos through the pages of this ground-breaking, as well as entertaining, cultural history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Steppin' Out is the first scholarly study of nightlife in the leading American metropolis or, for that matter, in any major American city. Previously explored only by popular writers and gossip columnists, this fascinating segment of modern urban culture has now finally received serious, sophisticated, and, not least important, sympathetic academic treatment. For Lewis Erenberg ... has presented nightlife-- its history, values, institutions and leading figures--as reflecting not the pathology of urban culture, as have so many others, but its positive expression, its unique identity. ... Steppin' Out is amply illustrated and clearly written. Based on entertainers' scrapbooks and memoirs, reformers' accounts, Variety, contemporary newspapers and other publications, it is ... a significant contribution to urban hstory.”–Urban History Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Lewis A. Erenberg is professor of history at Loyola University of Chicago.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (November 15, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226215156
• ISBN-13: 978-0226215150
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, November 30, 2003

By 

Alexandra (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture (Paperback)

there simply isn't a better resource on the topic of nightclubs and other popular entertainment in NYC during this time. i highly recommend it.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly Written, February 1, 2011

By 

Terence M. Cogswell (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture (Paperback)

There may not be a better source for the Nightlife of New York in the early 1900's but that doesn't mean this deserves 5 stars, that just means there's a very small and poorly developed material on this subject. The book is overly verbose to the point where it sounds like a creative writing teacher giving you an example of how not to engage your readers. I found myself extremely bored with the writing and often becoming distracted. I'm no slouch at reading either, I read 50+ books a year, not including school related books. This was still painful to read. The sentences were too close together on the page and the same stories were told over again with different people and places. You'll read multiple overly verbose accounts of how different restaraunts began catering to men and women, but there's no payoff to the reading. I don't even feel more informed after reading these accounts of how restaraunts become more lavish and the setbacks of plays catering to more than 1 class of people, I just feel drained. What should have been maybe a few essays totaling 50 pages was turned into a 270 page book and it did not end up well. I was nuetral towards New York nightlife in the past before reading this, but because of this book I now eschew the matter completely and hope never to hear or discuss it again.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More transformation of culture than nightlife, May 29, 2009

By 

KittyinVA (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture (Paperback)

There is an unfortunate dearth of books on the nightlife of NYC from the teens through the twenties. This book gives a decent general overview, but I wanted more specific names and dates of cabarets, tea dansants venues, revues and the eventual speakeasies. I am looking for owners, hours of operation, names of entertainers and when they performed, menues and descriptions of the actual rooms and buildings in which it all took place. Though interesting, I was not seeking a treatise on women's rights, and the "transformation of culture". Though well-written and at times thought-provoking, this book is two-thirds social history and only one-third about the actual venues and entertainers. The other review did not mention this, so I hope this will be helpful to someone like myself who is seeking the who, what's and when's more than the why's.