A History of X: 100 Years of Sex in Film

Rating:
Summary: RIVETING!!
Review: I can't recall when I've read a more interesting book on the adult industry. Luke Ford has definitely done his homework. His writing style amazed me and held me spellbound through each and every page. Bravo, Mr. Ford!

Rating:
Summary: Spoof, not history lesson
Review: I was appalled by this book, because what is presented as a history lesson is actually nothing more than a spoof on the sex industry.

Mr. Ford mixes bizarre personal commentary about sex with rote listings of historical content. I did not feel I could take anything here as fact. The presentation is strikingly tabloid, as gossip is frequently intermingled throughout the text with unsupported fact.

Furthermore, there is nothing new or enlightening here. Accusations of Mafia involvement in the X industry are left wholly unsubstantiated. The role of HIV is sensationalized, but not of any real information value. Mr. Ford fails to offer a single documented case either of Mafia involvement or actual HIV impact on the X industry.

The book focuses on the sex industry's golden period from the mid-eighties to the late nineties. However, in terms of the stars, commentary and history, this book could just as well have been written 15 years ago. Apparently nothing much has changed or happened in the sex industry in that time by Mr. Ford's account. If the sex industry is so stagnant, why bother to write a book about it at all?

I also question the very specious sources quoted and footnoted by Mr. Ford, primarily pornographers and sex industry magazines.

Rating:
Summary: There's a book about everything - porn included.
Review: One of society's most controversial areas of discussion is pornography. Most books written about that industry usually trash the filmmakers, actors and actresses calling them depraved, perverted, and indecent and morally corrupt. Luke Ford delves into the industry with a brash, unbiased viewpoint to give you a first hand look at what goes on.

Talking about Marilyn Chambers, John Holmes, Traci Lords, Linda Lovelace Ginger and Amber Lynn, Ford shows the behinds the scenes stories of how these people got into the business and what they are doing to promote their work.

Ford, who amazingly enough does not work in the pornography industry, takes an almost unheard of position of impartiality, to show you that everything you have heard may in fact not be the whole truth. Ford's ability to be objective throughout the book is a refreshing change.

Although this book is graphic in some parts and the details may take you a step back when you read them, the book does give the reader a new insight into the pornography industry. Whether you agree or disagree with what these people do for a living, The History of X may have you thinking a whole new way.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a mess....
Review: Somewhere, buried in this book, is some interesting, little-known information. This author would seem to have a lot of the inside dope on the subject - he's obviously followed the subject for many years. So it's worth a read if you are REALLY interested and can manage the author's, uh... "style."

Because this author can't write worth beans. Everything previously reviewers have alleged about him is true, and more. If there was *any* copy editing or checking involved, it's not obvious. This book IS rambling, discursive, contradictory, aimless, and badly organized.

A passion for pointless footnotes masks not only all this literary chaos but also a very weird, murky, attitude that can only be described as self-loathing. It's like the old crime magazines that used to glorify sex and violence by publicly deploring it - in lengthy and graphic detail. Why somebody who so clearly despises his topic should spin his wheels so furiously about it escapes me.

If you can find this book at a library, yard sale, or etc. it might be worth reading once over lightly. But pay full hardback price for it only if you've got money to burn.

As somebody has already written: surely there must be a better basic source on the subject?

Rating:
Summary: An Important Work on an Important Topic from Jechu Prospect
Review: The book is ambitious in its scope, but gets bogged down in the minutia of the business side of the pornography industry. Ultimately it lacks what porn fans truly crave...graphic photos of women in humiliating sex acts. Overall a decent first effort.

Rating:
Summary: Surely there's a better history?
Review: The PW review really summed it up -- this book is poorly edited, incoherent, meandering, and filled with shameful generalizations about the nature of men, women, and sex (and Jews, and...). If it weren't about the only book out there that even bothers to attempt to review the history of porn movie making (with most of its focus on the California era of the 70's through the 90's), it would deserve one star -- or less.

As it is, its facts are wrong, its gossip misleading, and its author clearly conflicted about his love and loathing of sexually explicit entertainment. But it is an interesting enough read (perhaps in the train wreck sense) that I finished the book. I didn't learn much more than I already knew, however. The shame of it is, this could have been a really good book, had some editor taken Ford firmly in hand and made him shape his chapters into a coherent form. It's not for nothing that the man has earned fame as a porn industry watcher; Ford has a trashy tabloid style that certainly grabs the attention (and there's nothing wrong with trashy tabloidism in its place!). But instead of guidance, he was handed a book contract and allowed to ramble without rein. The result is sad and unworthy of being clad between two covers. Blog-like ramblings on a website are one thing; I expect more rigorousness from a book I'm supposed to pay for.