Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining brain candy but, should I take this seriously?
Review: "Voluptuous Panic" is colorful, interesting, and amusing. Its a fast and enjoyable read.

The only negative quality of this book ,in my opinion, is that I always find it difficult to believe in rigid catagories describing people. The lists of different types of prostitutes, transvestites, homosexuals and lesbians are a little suspicious. The terminology is a lot of fun but, I wonder if the actual people of the Weimar era truly used these terms and definitions.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining brain candy but, should I take this seriously?
Review: "Voluptuous Panic" is colorful, interesting, and amusing. Its a fast and enjoyable read.

The only negative quality of this book ,in my opinion, is that I always find it difficult to believe in rigid catagories describing people. The lists of different types of prostitutes, transvestites, homosexuals and lesbians are a little suspicious. The terminology is a lot of fun but, I wonder if the actual people of the Weimar era truly used these terms and definitions.

Rating:
Summary: Must See to Believe!
Review: Exquisite. The author proffers an intricate and vivid portrait of the sexual culture, customs, morals and mores of Weimar Berlin. Contains concise yet detailed passages on all aspects of inter-guerre sexuality, from fetishes to prostitution to sex crimes. The vintage images are superb -- they will appeal to the voyeur, the historian, and the Bacchus in everyone.

Rating:
Summary: At long last
Review: I enjoyed this book on many levels. Such as, the well researched photos and flyers of the time- The old saying, "we look to our past to know what the future brings," comes into play in Mel Gordan's narrative. In a jaded society, there is always room for blushing specatators! The weimar society was a time and place all unto itself. This book shows examples of our past's animal propensities and the natural social contours history bares.A reference must!

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Summary: Picture book for very decadent children
Review: In glorious black-and-white pictures and color plates, Mel Gordon illustrates the splendour that was Weimar Berlin. This book is necessary for any uppity later generations who thought they came up with nightlife, sex and provocation.

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Summary: Thick Slices of Erotic Life in Berlin Between the War
Review: Mel Gordon has recreated the powerful erotic imagery of a time and place now gone, and perhaps residing in only a few memories.

The black and white pictures, posters and settings recreate the longed-for but never achieved phantom-like dreams of a little boy in the thirties, who barely remembers the sloe-eyed slinky long legged sometimes stern faces about to enter the eros of barely hidden, furtive and mysterious explorations and invitations to shadowy eroticareal. A real "Noire". All delighfully expressed in this volume.

A must for any serious reader of social-cultural history of the times, but more so for lovers of quality erotica. [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: voluptuous panic --SEHR GUT!!!!!
Review: Reading and reviewing this new presentation by Mel Gordon proved that the author had researched the subject of the "Weimar Republic" and its many varied avenues meticulously. Text was exact , and the illustrations lavish. Truly epic in the accurate presentaion of a place and time in world history which should never be forgotten. Eagerly awaiting the author's next subject.

Rating:
Summary: At long last
Review: The book is filled with pictures & drawings. It is pretty explicit. This book really gave me a sense how Germany went crazy (along with the rest of the world) in the jazz age of the 20's. Excellent at showing how the effects of World War I caused the decline of the rigid Wilhelmian society.

Rating:
Summary: Really puts the 20's in Germany in perpective
Review: The book is filled with pictures & drawings. It is pretty explicit. This book really gave me a sense how Germany went crazy (along with the rest of the world) in the jazz age of the 20's. Excellent at showing how the effects of World War I caused the decline of the rigid Wilhelmian society.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing record of a time and place
Review: The vision of Weimar Berlin as a bastion of decadence in increasingly Nazi-fied Germany is perhaps due in large part to our familiarity with the musical "Cabaret" or with Isherwood's "Berlin Stories." But in fact, the available documentation for that vision has been pretty slim until recently.

Mel Gordon has spent years assembling the material he shares in this amazing book. Be warned; this is not a pleasant book to read. The images can be disturbing or downright upsetting, and the information therein is similarly unsettling. It is, however, an invaluable resource for any student of the period as it makes available material that has simply not been widely seen outside of Germany.

If you are as fascinated as I am with the period between the wars, this book is a must-have. It gives depth to the glossy, Hollywood version of Berlin decadence, and shows it to be born as much out of poverty and hopelessness as out of the free expression of sexuality/sensuality. And please do take quite seriously the warning: This book is NOT for the faint of heart.