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13th out of 17 books
—
3 voters
The Sexual History of London: From Roman Londinium to the Swinging City---Lust, Vice, and Desire Across the Ages
If Paris is the city of love, then London is the city of lust. From the bath houses of Roman Londinium to the sexual underground of the twentieth century and beyond, this is an entertaining, vibrant chronicle of London and sex through the ages.
For more than a thousand years, England’s capital has been associated with desire, avarice, and the sins of the flesh. Richard
Hardcover, 333 pages
Published
December 6th 2011
by St. Martin's Press
(first published 2010)
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Catherine Arnold’s City of Sin: London and its Vices is an entertaining history of the sex industry in London.
Arnold takes us back as far as Roman times, and is concerned mostly with prostitution although pornography is dealt with in passing. She encompasses every level of prostitution in her story, from the humbles streetwalkers to the most expensive and successful courtesans like Nell Gwyn and Skittles.
The author does her best to give her subject matter an even-handed treatment. She doesn’t gl...more
Arnold takes us back as far as Roman times, and is concerned mostly with prostitution although pornography is dealt with in passing. She encompasses every level of prostitution in her story, from the humbles streetwalkers to the most expensive and successful courtesans like Nell Gwyn and Skittles.
The author does her best to give her subject matter an even-handed treatment. She doesn’t gl...more
Tales of debauchery! This is a very entertaining look at the underground (and sometimes right out in the open) sexual history of London, from Roman Londinium to the modern era. In its 2000 years of existence, London has seen it all, and there are many surprises here. The first chapter on Roman London suffers a bit from an apparent lack of local evidence, and so it includes a lot of speculation based on generalities of urban life in the empire, and the extreme depravity of the Caesars which she c...more
You should read this if you want a short introduction to the darker side of London. Arnold is entertaining, but not a historian by any means. The tales she tells are interesting, although she does seem to like picking out the ones that will shock her readers the most. She has no cohesive argument. She flip flops from protitution to homosexuality (although she barely touches lesbianism), and the last few pages or so of the book are completely pointless. She simply isn't able to fit 2000 years of...more
City of Sin is an examination of the oldest business in the world: prostitution. From brothels to Roman bath houses to modern day sex scandals and rent boys, Arnold tells the history of London through the eyes of it's sex workers. And it's a history of 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' with the same characters coming up in different guises throughout history; high class call girls, desperate working-class prostitutes, madams and aristocratic clients.
The book's main strength i...more
The book's main strength i...more
With such a titillating title, the reader might want to use a book cover when reading it in public! However, this is a serious look at the sex trade in London from the time that it was called Londinium and the Romans brought their camp followers to Britain until modern times and the use of the internet for advertising.
London had more prostitutes than any city in the 17th-19th centuries. Poverty was rampant and girls had to "go on the game" to survive. Of course, there were the high class ladies...more
London had more prostitutes than any city in the 17th-19th centuries. Poverty was rampant and girls had to "go on the game" to survive. Of course, there were the high class ladies...more
Good! Lots of factoids in my brain that weren't there before. Such as: when the Romans left London and the Christian movement took hold, for a few hundred years there was a golden age of prostitution. Laws were put in place that once a week a doctor would visit brothels to make sure the women or men were in good health, had pleasant furnishings, and were in generally decent care. When the doctor came prostitutes could state if they were in the brothel of their own free will or not. Also, the sta...more
“Church operated on the principle that prostitution fell into the category of ‘necessary evils’. Saint Thomas Aquinas himself compared prostitution ‘like unto a cesspool in the palace; take away the cesspool and the palace becomes an unclean evil-smelling place’.
--Catherine Arnold, “The Sexual History of London”
Catherine Arnold book entitled “The Sexual History of London” is predominantly illustrates the history of prostitution in London. The narrative starts as early as the 1400’s and goes br...more
--Catherine Arnold, “The Sexual History of London”
Catherine Arnold book entitled “The Sexual History of London” is predominantly illustrates the history of prostitution in London. The narrative starts as early as the 1400’s and goes br...more
There's a lot of great information here, but Arnold is no Peter Ackroyd. Though she paces the book at light speed, the material is organized chronologically which means a great deal of repetition and circling back on subjects. The emphasis of the book - based on percentage of material - is on the female sex worker. While there is a lot of information here, this has all been covered before, and Arnold's unnecessary and often inconsistent editorializing gets in the way. The case studies feel cobbl...more
I won an advance copy of this book on goodreads. I hoped to have a chance to finish it before its release date, and I'm happy to say I did; it was hard to put down once I started. As a former English major and slight British history fanatic, I enjoyed the trip from medieval London to modern times. Arnold does a fantastic job of providing salacious details that hold the pleasure reader's attention and writing in a manner that is easy to read, all the while remaining historical by citing her sourc...more
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A very entertaining, enjoyable and easily read account of the sexual history of London from Roman times to the present day. I think it's a little too ambitious in its remit as it tries to cover everything from trafficked and pimped prostitutes, through prostitution by choice, homosexuality, lesbianism and venereal disease. Arnold examines the way that different ages have viewed, and dealt with, sex and its deviations and leaves you with the impression that there is nothing new under the sun.
I t...more
I t...more
I started reading this as research material for a story I'm plotting out and writing, but it has been an enjoyable read as well as being rather informative. For my plotting purposes, I'd have liked more material on more recent history, but I got some interesting ancient history which was thought provoking, so swings and roundabouts there.
You're likely to find parts of this book hilarious, and you should find parts of it shocking. The author does a good job of narrating the tale of London's sex i...more
You're likely to find parts of this book hilarious, and you should find parts of it shocking. The author does a good job of narrating the tale of London's sex i...more
just finished reading City of sin: London and its vices, i enjoyed this journey through londons seedy history, although not an extensive look at the history of our attitudes towards sex and the sex trade, it is a very enjoyable and informative read. starting from the roman occupation through to modern day the book contains witty poems and diary extracts aswell as historical court cases to do with promiscuity, from memebers of parliament to oscar wilde even the krays. Not as informative as it cou...more
It's not often that I voluntarily read historical narratives, but when I saw this book at the bookstore a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist taking a look. Arnold's writing is sassy and intriguing, detailing the lives of important whores and homosexuals, among others, of London's long and sordid past. It was fascinating to read about changing attitudes and piece together some of the knowledge I have about other aspects of London society and history with the sexual exploits described herein.
A great...more
A great...more
If Paris is the city of love, then London is the city of lust. From the bath houses of Roman Londinium to the sexual underground of the twentieth century and beyond, this is an entertaining, vibrant chronicle of London and sex through the ages.
For more than a thousand years, England’s capital has been associated with desire, avarice, and the sins of the flesh. Richard of Devises, a monk writing in 1180, warned that “every quarter abounds in great obscenities.” As early as the second century AD,...more
This was a nice bit of fluff that painted an overall rather rosy picture of the world's oldest profession. Most of the whores the author mentioned were successful whores--mistresses to powerful men, high-dollar call girls, industrious types who saved their money so they could retire and open coffee shops, and the like. Women who entered the game more or less willingly and played it to their advantage. Well, more power to those women, but what about the drug-addicted teen-aged street worker who w...more
Unevenly paced, with rather more attention paid to the exceptions than the rules, and focusing rather too excessively on the 16th to 18th centuries. I for one should have appreciated a closer look at the Roman and contemporary periods. Far from demystifying sex work, I fear that Arnold’s book paints a too-glossy veneer onto the industry. While an enjoyable and colourful read, it rings just as hollow as Joleen Zanuzoski’s ‘Social Analysis of Sex-For-Sale in Modern Singapore’ (2006).
i must be an easy sell...I added this to my list of "curious about" books purely because of the following description:
"Arnold takes us on a journey through the fleshpots of London from earliest times to present day. Here are buxom strumpets, louche aristocrats, popinjay politicians, and Victorian flagellants—all vying for their place in London’s league of licentiousness."
strumpets. that is all.
(ps: "curious about" is subtext for "probably not")
"Arnold takes us on a journey through the fleshpots of London from earliest times to present day. Here are buxom strumpets, louche aristocrats, popinjay politicians, and Victorian flagellants—all vying for their place in London’s league of licentiousness."
strumpets. that is all.
(ps: "curious about" is subtext for "probably not")
I was a proud winner of this book through the GoodReads First Reads Giveaway. I tend to enjoy historical works, especially when they focus on relevant subject matter such as food and sex.
The first several chapters were rather entertaining. The detail of Roman influence on the sexual environs of London were shocking and I could have seen just that portion making a solid book. I was equally impressed in learning about Buggery Laws and how the Monarchy used them to maintain control. I felt that the...more
The first several chapters were rather entertaining. The detail of Roman influence on the sexual environs of London were shocking and I could have seen just that portion making a solid book. I was equally impressed in learning about Buggery Laws and how the Monarchy used them to maintain control. I felt that the...more
An amazing and interesting insight into he world of yesteryear right up to today. If you are familiar with London, then you will recognise some of the places mentioned, and will know exactly where they are. From make up and Molly houses, social climbing ladies of the night, to torturous, horrendous treatment of human beings in days of old... This surprisingly, is an easy, random, yet very enjoyable read.
I will never look at Gropecunt, Maiden or Cock's Lane again without thinking of the actual women of London mentioned in this book and the degradation which was so much a part of their lives as prostitutes. It wasn't until the late 17th c. that the profession actually became fun and some times, if lucky, financially rewarding (thanks to Charles II who had mistresses in the hundreds).
Some of her historical statements are quite categorically made, for example, the etymology of certain swear words, when even the experts admit ambiguity and uncertainty. The book is also very much biased towards the early modern period onwards - the Roman period gets as much coverage as the Profumo scandal and the Lady Chatterley trial.
Yippee! This was a great read about the sex industry in London from Roman times to the present day! Prostitution is the oldest profession in the world and here is a book that shows the slight variations throughout time - disorderly houses (love that term!), park girls, fancy courtesans, pimps, homosexuality, Jack The Ripper, and more! It's all here for the taking! The Victorian era is studied in detail because of it's morals and position of "respectable females". An interesting chapter or two on...more
I guess my expectations for this book were incorrect. I was hoping it would cover more of the history of perversions - what has been considered perverse across the ages, how our perceptions have changed, etc. But this book was primarily just a history of prostitution, which I didn't find to be largely different from one era to the next. At least not different enough for me to notice & be interested in the differences - as someone who doesn't have much of a base interest in that area of sexua...more
It was a really good and entertaining general overview. Sometimes I felt a stronger thread of some kind throughout the whole book would have justified some of the shifts in topic. I'm now interested in digging deeper into the mores of a lot of the time periods covered in the book. Overall, a very enjoyable read.
This is a very academic, scholarly look at the history of sex in London (and especially of the sex trade in London), and in many chapters can be more pedantic than enticing and stimulating. The earlier parts of the book, about the thoroughly disgusting sex of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance Era, were downright tedious. My interest peaked as the author approached the late Victorian era and the 20th century. I was fascinated by the trials of Oscar Wilde and the legal indictment of D.H. Lawren...more
Fairly interesting, even if it got a little dense in parts. Too many historical anecdotes squashed together with only a faint tie-in. Looking forward to her other books though, London and its dead and mad.
This was a really good historical look at prostitution over the last 2000 years (approximately) in London. Very interesting to see how it was dealt with legally during the reigns of different monarchs.
A history of London's whores, heavy on the Georgian and Victorian detail, written in a descriptive, accessible style. Sex and one of my favourite cities in the world. What's not to like? ;P
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The book was interesting.It covered just about every aspect of sex.From straight sex to homosexuality.Mostly from the piont where it had to do with prostitution.
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| Found it an Interesting Read. | 1 | 6 | Jan 01, 2012 06:09pm |
Catharine Arnold read English at Cambridge and holds a further degree in psychology. A journalist, academic and popular historian, Catharine's previous books include the novel "Lost Time", winner of a Betty Trask award. Her London trilogy for Simon & Schuster comprises of "Necropolis: London and Its Dead", "Bedlam: London and Its Mad" and "City of Sin: London and Its Vices".
More about Catharine Arnold...
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