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The Chapman Report
Based on the "Kinsey Reports" where Dr. Alfred Kinsey conducted interviews with thousands of men and women on their sexual habits, Irving Wallace's blockbuster novel "The Chapman Report" concerns the interviewing of a number of society ladies from a community in California known only as "The Briars". These interviews, intended to extract data for a book on the sexual habits of married women, lead the reader on a trail through the lives and loves of several very different women, and the men in their lives. At the same time, the novel examines the lives of those conducting the interviews, their morals and motives, and at last becomes a treatise on love, and sex, and everything in between.From the back cover of the 1960 paperback"Not just Wash. I wanted Perowitz and Lavine and Bardelli - I wanted them all...""I don't nkow how I could have endured marriage without Fred. He's so different from my husband."At first it was asmusing. Then it was titillating. But as the respectable ladies of Briarwood Revealed the most intimate details of their sex lives to the eminent Dr. Chapman and his researchers, they found themselves face to face with long hidden emotions and dangerous desires.The Chapman Report is an International Bestselling novel, made into a Warner Bros. movie starring Jane Fonda in one of her earliest roles.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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323 people want to read
About the author
Irving Wallace
180 books292 followersIrving Wallace was an American bestselling author and screenwriter. His extensively researched books included such page-turners as The Chapman Report (1960), about human sexuality; The Prize (1962), a fictional behind-the-scenes account of the Nobel Prizes; The Man, about a black man becoming president of the U.S. in the 1960s; and The Word (1972), about the discovery of a new gospel.
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois. Wallace grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the father of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky and author Amy Wallace.
Wallace began selling stories to magazines when he was a teenager. In World War II Wallace served in the Frank Capra unit in Fort Fox along with Theodor Seuss Geisel - more popularly known as Dr Seuss - and continued to write for magazines. He also served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force. In the years immediately following World war II Wallace became a Hollywood screenwriter. He collaborated on such films as The West Point Story (1950), Split Second (1953),and Meet Me at the Fair (1953).
After several years in Hollywood, he devoted himself full-time to writing books. Wallace published 33 books during his lifetime.
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois. Wallace grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He was the father of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky and author Amy Wallace.
Wallace began selling stories to magazines when he was a teenager. In World War II Wallace served in the Frank Capra unit in Fort Fox along with Theodor Seuss Geisel - more popularly known as Dr Seuss - and continued to write for magazines. He also served in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force. In the years immediately following World war II Wallace became a Hollywood screenwriter. He collaborated on such films as The West Point Story (1950), Split Second (1953),and Meet Me at the Fair (1953).
After several years in Hollywood, he devoted himself full-time to writing books. Wallace published 33 books during his lifetime.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 16, 2013
The #4 bestseller of 1960 is yet another confirmation that the 60s was THE decade when sex took its place of prominence in fiction. Now it is a commonplace, almost required or expected in contemporary fiction, but by the end of the 1950s most of the big censorship cases against sexually explicit novels had been defeated and the Pandora's Box of literature was forever opened.
Too bad then that The Chapman Report is also an example of the worst trashy bestseller writing; so bad it made me laugh. But Wallace made his point: when you get women talking about their sex lives, anything can happen.
A team of sex researchers are finishing their rounds of surveys in a Los Angeles suburb. The location is fictional but resembles a mix of the Santa Monica/Brentwood/Bel Air neighborhoods. The women are married, widowed, or divorced. They are also well-off and many have small children. Additionally, each female character is a type: nympho, intellectual, frigid, Daddy's girl, adulteress, and driven career woman. The lives of each of these women blow up once they begin to participate in the interviews.
Wallace has a second point to make: a soulless, scientific, numerical approach to female sexual practices leaves out the emotional life of these women. It was after this book that Erica Jong and others came along in the 1970s to reveal the female side of the story.
Wallace, a prolific journalist and screenwriter, clearly did his research. The major sex researchers of the day and their conflicts with each other are mentioned, including Alfred Kinsey. Wallace claimed that his researcher is not based on Kinsey or any of the others. Having read T C Boyle's The Inner Circle, a novel based on the life of Kinsey, I beg to differ.
In the end, despite the laughable prose, this melodramatic and juicy story was a titillating read. Apparently the American reading public of 1960 also found it to be so.
April 29, 2015
Oh my, was this dated. It came out the year I was born, and was a top ten best-seller. *sigh* Oh well, some of us have aged better than others!
I can see how it was probably ground-breaking, and it tried to put a more human face on Kinsey's study. Because it took on a large subject, the characters tended to be 'types' rather than characters, so it made it hard to really care.
Glad times have changed, but I guess I applaud Wallace for taking on the subject at the time he did.
I can see how it was probably ground-breaking, and it tried to put a more human face on Kinsey's study. Because it took on a large subject, the characters tended to be 'types' rather than characters, so it made it hard to really care.
Glad times have changed, but I guess I applaud Wallace for taking on the subject at the time he did.
February 8, 2021
This was, no doubt, super racy when published in 1960. It's about a study of the sex habits of married American women, in the vein of the Kinsey studies. But the characters are mostly all caricatures and what may have been racy and shocking in 1960 is not really the shocking part now -- the mind-boggling part now is the societal behaviors that are treated as common and normal throughout.
April 15, 2014
Not exactly on my taste, but if you are patient enough, after the first two hundred pages it turns out to be acceptable.
April 28, 2023
The Chapman Report is the project that gives the book its name, and consists of the application of a questionnaire whose aim is to profile the sex life of married women through some rather indiscreet questions.
Here, the target audience will be the women of a wealthy community, The Briars, where everything seems very "policely correct", and the ladies very prude and very serious.
But, if there weren't a few secrets in between, we wouldn't be talking about Irving Wallace, would we ?
We have a fake prude who cheats on her husband, a sophisticated woman who wants nothing more than to be possessed by a thug she saw on the beach, a nymphomaniac who drinks herself senseless, a widow who thinks she's frigid because she never had an orgasm with the deceased, and a reporter who is willing to satisfy the editor's sexual whims in exchange for a promotion.
To them we then have to add the investigators responsible for the report: Dr. Chapman, who sees sex as a purely mechanical act disassociated from love; Paul, the romantic on the team; Horace, who once had a relationship with one of the ladies from The Briars and, to complete the team, a pervert who reminded me of one of the guys from Fan Club.
For much of the time, I found the book too stagnant, and it wasn't until more than halfway through that things started to come together and the dirt became more prominent (somewhat inevitable, since this seems to be one of Irving Wallace's favorite themes). But after that more stagnant part, the book really picked up momentum that was maintained until the end.
You can find more reviews on my blog!
UmBlogueSobreLivros
Here, the target audience will be the women of a wealthy community, The Briars, where everything seems very "policely correct", and the ladies very prude and very serious.
But, if there weren't a few secrets in between, we wouldn't be talking about Irving Wallace, would we ?
We have a fake prude who cheats on her husband, a sophisticated woman who wants nothing more than to be possessed by a thug she saw on the beach, a nymphomaniac who drinks herself senseless, a widow who thinks she's frigid because she never had an orgasm with the deceased, and a reporter who is willing to satisfy the editor's sexual whims in exchange for a promotion.
To them we then have to add the investigators responsible for the report: Dr. Chapman, who sees sex as a purely mechanical act disassociated from love; Paul, the romantic on the team; Horace, who once had a relationship with one of the ladies from The Briars and, to complete the team, a pervert who reminded me of one of the guys from Fan Club.
For much of the time, I found the book too stagnant, and it wasn't until more than halfway through that things started to come together and the dirt became more prominent (somewhat inevitable, since this seems to be one of Irving Wallace's favorite themes). But after that more stagnant part, the book really picked up momentum that was maintained until the end.
You can find more reviews on my blog!
UmBlogueSobreLivros
March 9, 2025
I read this novel when I was 13 years old and curious about sex. I had read the Kinsey report, and this was a story which provided a titillating, easy to read sequel to the scientific approach of the Report. At that age, I trying to learn about women and their sex lives. In this period, I read Irving Wallace, Jacquelyn Susann, and John O’Hara, but also Ainais Nin and Henry Miller.
January 24, 2021
Outstanding non-fiction style novel with plenty of interesting fictional characters. Just started watching the movie with a very young Jane Fonda staring with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Happy to see my local library had it for ebBook loan.
June 11, 2025
Disappointing. I had remembered Irving Wallace as an author that I enjoyed reading some 30 or 40 years ago. Reading him again now I was disappointed. Perhaps it was only this particular book or perhaps it has dated badly.
June 27, 2020
Read in 1975. Wallace's version of the Kinsey Report, the sexual proclivities in an exclusive community. Later a film.
Read
October 18, 2024I got through it but not my kind of book...
November 20, 2016
AUTHOR..
Irving Wallace..
LOCATION...
LOS ANGELS..
CHARACTERS..
Dr.George G.Chapman, Kathleen Ballard, Sarah Goldsmith, Terresa Hamish, Naomi Shields, Mary McManus, Ursula Palmer, Paul Radford,Dr.Jones, Cass Miller, Horase Van Duesen and others...
GENRE..
Family..
PLOT..
S Kathleen, Sarah, Terresa,Naomi, Mary and Ursula, these six women are from The Briars, the better side of Los Angels.Their life,even though problem free, is turning into an emptiness that no parties, shopping or any discreet affair can fill. They longed for something that could fill in their void, boring, routine life. These women are members of The Briar's Women's Association headed by Grace Waterton which is dedicated to social and charitable works, as well as beautifying the western area of Los Angels.
Dr.G.George G.Chapman world renowned sex authority from Wisconsin and the author of best selling book "A sex study of the American Bachelor" arrives at The Briars Women's association, to conduct survey and to gather statistical data for his next book " A SEX LIFE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MARRIED FEMALE. For this purpose, Dr.Chapman and his team of assistants Dr.Horace Van Duesen, Cass Miller, and Paul Radford will interview 220 married women of the members Association for 14 days. Dr.Chapman and his associates are dedicated to the sociological task of bringing sex into the open, and creating awareness and improving the unknown side of sex through factual knowledge, to all married women.
The questions asked anonymously to these six women by Chapman's associates at the conference hall of the Briars Women's association, about the pre-adolescent sex, satisfaction achieved through petting, premartial sex, average time they made love to their husbands, their chosen time for lovemaking, post-martial sex other than their husbands, the normal time they take to get an orgasm, probes the most intimate details of their personal lives .
Slowly like flowers opening in the sun, their lives begin to change. For some, there will be revelation, a sense of release. Forgotten memories revived and old inhibitions will be lost. But for the others the Chapman interview causes suffering and even death.
Kathleen Ballard, living alone after untimely death of her husband in air crash, considers her as an ice maiden. Thinking herself a stiff, inflexible woman who cannot satisfy a man in a sexual intercourse and he is cursed to live alone. She finds her lost love and pleasure in Paul Radford, one of the associates and interviewer in the Chapman's Team. Charming her with his soft spoken and gentle ways, Paul marries her before leaving Los Angels.
Ursula Palmer who is about to leave her husband for chief editor post in a reputed magazine at New York, throw away that opportunity and decides to help her accountant husband in fixing his new office.
Terresa Hamish finds her love and peace with her husband, after her 'animal-love-making' experience with a muscled foot ball player at Constables Cove, a beach resort near her house. Terresa finally joins her art dealer husband by throwing parties and promotional events for his art exhibitions.
Irving Wallace..
LOCATION...
LOS ANGELS..
CHARACTERS..
Dr.George G.Chapman, Kathleen Ballard, Sarah Goldsmith, Terresa Hamish, Naomi Shields, Mary McManus, Ursula Palmer, Paul Radford,Dr.Jones, Cass Miller, Horase Van Duesen and others...
GENRE..
Family..
PLOT..
S Kathleen, Sarah, Terresa,Naomi, Mary and Ursula, these six women are from The Briars, the better side of Los Angels.Their life,even though problem free, is turning into an emptiness that no parties, shopping or any discreet affair can fill. They longed for something that could fill in their void, boring, routine life. These women are members of The Briar's Women's Association headed by Grace Waterton which is dedicated to social and charitable works, as well as beautifying the western area of Los Angels.
Dr.G.George G.Chapman world renowned sex authority from Wisconsin and the author of best selling book "A sex study of the American Bachelor" arrives at The Briars Women's association, to conduct survey and to gather statistical data for his next book " A SEX LIFE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MARRIED FEMALE. For this purpose, Dr.Chapman and his team of assistants Dr.Horace Van Duesen, Cass Miller, and Paul Radford will interview 220 married women of the members Association for 14 days. Dr.Chapman and his associates are dedicated to the sociological task of bringing sex into the open, and creating awareness and improving the unknown side of sex through factual knowledge, to all married women.
The questions asked anonymously to these six women by Chapman's associates at the conference hall of the Briars Women's association, about the pre-adolescent sex, satisfaction achieved through petting, premartial sex, average time they made love to their husbands, their chosen time for lovemaking, post-martial sex other than their husbands, the normal time they take to get an orgasm, probes the most intimate details of their personal lives .
Slowly like flowers opening in the sun, their lives begin to change. For some, there will be revelation, a sense of release. Forgotten memories revived and old inhibitions will be lost. But for the others the Chapman interview causes suffering and even death.
Kathleen Ballard, living alone after untimely death of her husband in air crash, considers her as an ice maiden. Thinking herself a stiff, inflexible woman who cannot satisfy a man in a sexual intercourse and he is cursed to live alone. She finds her lost love and pleasure in Paul Radford, one of the associates and interviewer in the Chapman's Team. Charming her with his soft spoken and gentle ways, Paul marries her before leaving Los Angels.
Ursula Palmer who is about to leave her husband for chief editor post in a reputed magazine at New York, throw away that opportunity and decides to help her accountant husband in fixing his new office.
Terresa Hamish finds her love and peace with her husband, after her 'animal-love-making' experience with a muscled foot ball player at Constables Cove, a beach resort near her house. Terresa finally joins her art dealer husband by throwing parties and promotional events for his art exhibitions.
January 25, 2018
Es un libro divertido que pone en duda el papel de la mujer como ama de casa y como la portadora de algo que llaman "feminidad" pero que nadie sabe definir.
El Doctor Chapman, después de haber publicado un libro sobre la sexualidad del hombre soltero, se dedica a hacer un estudio acerca de la sexualidad de la mujer casada. Él cree fielmente que con estadísticas acerca del acto sexual se podrá comprender de mejor manera eso que llamamos amor, sobre todo en el matrimonio. Las mujeres que son entrevistadas se encontrarán llenas de dudas, de miedos, de curiosidades pero también de respuestas de sí mismas y de sus sentimientos. Respuestas que de ningún modo se verán reflejadas en el estudio del Doctor Chapman, porque los sentimientos van más allá de las estadísticas.
Me gustó, me conmovió, me sorprendió.
El Doctor Chapman, después de haber publicado un libro sobre la sexualidad del hombre soltero, se dedica a hacer un estudio acerca de la sexualidad de la mujer casada. Él cree fielmente que con estadísticas acerca del acto sexual se podrá comprender de mejor manera eso que llamamos amor, sobre todo en el matrimonio. Las mujeres que son entrevistadas se encontrarán llenas de dudas, de miedos, de curiosidades pero también de respuestas de sí mismas y de sus sentimientos. Respuestas que de ningún modo se verán reflejadas en el estudio del Doctor Chapman, porque los sentimientos van más allá de las estadísticas.
Me gustó, me conmovió, me sorprendió.
October 4, 2012
When I sterted reading this book I thought it will be great...but as I was reading more and more, it got so bored that I had to force myself to take it and read further, I just wanted to finish it. Somewhere in the middle it got bit more interesting and until the end got better and better. I can say this; You will not be sorry to read it if You get strong enought to ran through first 200 pages :) It is really touching, inspirative and interesting at the end.
January 8, 2023
I am in a book challenge group, and this month was a book written the year you were born. Very much of the time, so very outdated. Interesting in places, and it put some of the sex research of those times at the forefront. Not sure I agreed with many of the conclusions. The worst part was the ebook formatting, which was terrible. Run on sentences. No separation by even a line from one character's pod to another's, which made what should have been a zip to get through a bit of a drudgery.
August 9, 2016
Cuando llegue a mi pueblo del cual no conocia nada, para pasar el rato empece a leer este libro ya que no habia otra forma de entretenerme he de decir que estuvo muy bueno y me entretuvo hasta el final.
No le pongo mas estrellas porque no seria un libro el cual volveria a leer
La historia es creible y tiene muchos aspectos que sabemos que son reales pero nos negamos a aceptar
No le pongo mas estrellas porque no seria un libro el cual volveria a leer
La historia es creible y tiene muchos aspectos que sabemos que son reales pero nos negamos a aceptar
September 10, 2017
1962! And indeed a classic. It was rather slow in the first half. However, it picked up and ended with some rather interesting events and consequences of the Kinsey-type research into sexual behavior, dynamics and complexities. I particularly liked the science vs subjective experience treatment - and feel that in 50 years we haven't progressed very far...
September 27, 2014
I can understand every women in this book, because I am a woman. And I know what a woman loves, likes and needs. Great book. Great findings. May not be a 100% accurate. Even then its better than many and gives some insights for future life
January 29, 2019
Black Mirror meets Danielle Steel in this strange vintage book that starts with some intense character sketchets (but they all get blurred together for a spell, anyway) and does have a few interesting surprises. I can't really say I enjoyed it.
July 9, 2017
Pretty pulpy fictionalization of the Kinsey phenomenon. Read for the sex mostly I guess. Semi-sensational at the time. Date read is a guess.
January 10, 2013
I picked up the book in spite of reading the synopsis and when I finished it I was left wondering "what was I thinking?!"
June 15, 2013
awesome!
December 24, 2016
I usually enjoy Irving Wallace novels, but THE CHAPMAN REPORT is not among them. Dr. Chapman is a sex researcher interviewing women in an upscale California community as research for his next book, THE SEX HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MARRIED FEMALE. Though not at all sexually graphic, I agree with the reviewer who described it as "tawdry." Now on to more worthy reading.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews