John Heidenry

Carl Hall had a great fall. The scion of a prominent family in my mother's hometown of Trading Post, Kansas (his grandfather Austin survived the Marais des Cygnes border massacre) had a less-than-stellar career in the Marines, including a stretch in the Quantico brig, then ran off with Irene Holmes, who watched him squander his fortune. Things did not improve when Irene left. After robbing a series of cab drivers at gunpoint, Missouri sent him to the state pen, where he hatched a scheme to kidnap Bobby Greenlease, nephew of a former military school classmate. The subtitle is a spoiler: Hall hooks up with a hooker and kills their captive by page 7. This account of the notorious 1953 case follows their boozy improvisations to collect a $600,000 ransom. Many clues suggest that no one fares well.… (mais)

Other reviewers are right; this is a pretty dry, unimaginative retelling of the Greenlease kidnapping. I kept waiting for the gun that appears in the first act to go off in the third act but no, there really are just a lot of inconsequential facts included for the sake of inclusion. Still I love true crime and this is a really well researched book. It's set between Hyde Park, Mission Hills and St. Louis, places where I live, work, and have lived (respectively) so it's hard for me not to take interest. A good but not great book.… (mais)

A book of sexual trivia in question-and-answer format. Some answers are backed by sources. Some are explained. Some are debatable, even hard to believe. Some are from the Kinsey reports of the 1950s, thus may be outdated. Ditto for those from Dr. Freud and Masters & Johnson.

The questions range from Anatomy to Zoology. From anatomical dimensions to the sex lives of animals, and everything in between. Angles from history, religion, biology, psychology, social customs, street slang. Sexual functions and dysfunctions. Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask. You will learn something from this book, whether you agree with it or not. For example:

• “The average high school has a higher incidence of venereal disease than a licensed Nevada whorehouse.”
• “Abortion is the number-one form of contraception practiced in the U.S.”
• Sir Isaac Newton, Immanuel Kant, and Havelock Ellis were virgins.
• One in three men has had a homosexual experience to orgasm.

Bawdy and bizarre. The author tried to be free of gender bias. The racial differences he points out are not racist if they are factual. Not recommended to prudes and Puritans. Includes a reading list for further study.… (mais)

They said that the birth control pill would change everything. It almost did, for a decade or two, until STDs, libidinal burnout, and the Meese Commission put a stop to the fun. This book is a historical overview of those years, with elements of sociology and sexology. A history of the changes, good and bad, during “the giddy decade” when sex came out of the closet. Changes in sexual mores. Changes in hemlines and permissiveness. The growth of the pornography industry. The evolution of porn from artful erotica to “full-frontal” and hard core. Women’s liberation, LGBT liberation. Free-love cults, swinging clubs, wife swapping, orgies and group sex. Reactions to the changes from the Religious Right and radical feminists.

Here are discussions of censorship, adultery, abortion, AIDS, prostitution, bizarre sex practices, and many other topics. Sex researchers such as Masters and Johnson. Pornographers and porn actors. Is pornography demeaning to women? Does it incite to rape? Does the Mafia control the porn business? Is sex therapy legitimate or a scam? Can sexual orientation be changed by therapy? How prevalent is homosexuality? These are only a few of the issues discussed. Are sex surveys such as the Kinsey Report to be believed?

Some interesting stats from various surveys:
One in three or four women had an abortion. (page 125)
Three out of ten pregnancies ended in abortions. (122)
Two thirds of white males had sex with prostitutes. (21)
Median number of sex partners over a lifetime: 7.3. (354)
Median frequency of intercourse: once per week. (354)

The author calls for sexual freedom, a permanent sexual revolution emancipated from false inhibitions, guilt, and hang-ups. He wants to rescue sexuality from the grips of “politicians, clergies, and ideologues.” This book is “a call to arms against … the sexual tyranny that men continue to impose on women.” It covers human sexuality from just about every angle, normal and abnormal. It is fair and sympathetic to sexual minorities.

Recommended to readers who would like to understand those years and those changes. Could be better organized but the research is good and the writing is excellent. The topic is interesting, though sordid at times. Not recommended to prudes. I wish the type fonts were larger and easier to read, but they are readable. Indexed and sourced, but no illustrations.… (mais)