Beaver Street
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Review
Robert Rosen was in the trenches of the porn industry for years, and he clearly took copious notes with his one free hand. His history of modern porn is entertaining, insightful, and hot. --Michael Musto, Columnist, The Village Voice
Hot Type pick of 2011
--Vanity Fair UK
Hot Type pick of 2011
--Vanity Fair UK
Product Description
For sixteen years Robert Rosen worked behind the X-rated scenes of such porn magazines as High Society, Stag, and D-Cup. In BEAVER STREET: A HISTORY OF MODERN PORNOGRAPHY, Rosen blows the lid off the lucrative and politically hounded adult industry, providing a darkly engaging account of its tumultuous decades--from the defining Traci Lords scandal and the conception of `free' phone sex to the burgeoning success of smut in cyberspace in the twenty-first century.
When Robert Rosen came to international awareness with NOWHERE MAN, his critically acclaimed portrait of Lennon's last days, few knew that the author had spent two decades toiling as a publisher, copywriter, editor and photographer in the pornography industry. As a jobbing writer looking to make ends meet, he stumbled into porn at the moment his new employers, publishers of the `adult' magazine HIGH SOCIETY, invented phone sex. Initiating the latest phase in the historical alliance of sex, money and technology, the culmination of `dial-a-porn' would begat the internet `free' pornography boom and ultimately condemn the entire industry to commercial extinction.
The intervening years are the most tumultuous, and lucrative in the history of smut, and Rosen was present at the dead centre of its darkest hour: the infamous TRACI LORDS scandal, and the ensuing moral and legal crusades of the left and right, which would see him and hundreds of colleagues staring prison in the face. In BEAVER STREET, however, this former pornographer bites back.
On the one hand BEAVER STREET is a portrait of an exceptional American workplace, full of tyrants, cynics, perverts and drug addicts, the owners getting filthy rich while Rosen and his colleagues sweat blood to fulfil the demanding and squalid responsibility of ensuring millions have something new to masturbate to every other week.
On the other hand (and this is why the author has christened his work an investigative memoir), Rosen's intellect, curiosity, insight and penmanship hoists BEAVER STREET high above the average porn memoir, with Rosen not only unveiling the mechanics of the porn profiteers, but fixing the unbelievable events that rocked his entire sordid career in their fascinating political, technological and cultural contexts.
Illustrated. Includes 8 colour plates.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Vivid and funny, "Beaver Street" moves at a cinematic pace, a period piece that picks up the story of modern porn where "Boogie Nights" leaves off. This wickedly honest personal memoir of the 80s and 90s sex industry segues from a behind the scenes look at porn shoots to hilarious office banter amid the cramped cubicles of fetish magazines. Rosen is particularly sharp on the one-two punch that brought down the huge porn mag industry--first, the Traci Lords scandal (she was underage when she burned up the screen in such classics as "Talk Dirty To Me III"), followed by the unexpected success of the phone sex business. For a fascinating and funny look at America's id, "Beaver Street" can't be beat.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Robert Rosen has an uncanny knack for combining fact and filth in Beaver Street, resulting in an account of the porn magazine industry that is both detailed and informative, as well as accessible and riveting. The book provides insight into the lives of porn stars and porn producers that had me laughing one minute, and reeling the next.
You get the sense that Rosen has always had this book in mind from the very day he started working in the industry. An account this evolved and thoughtful clearly comes from years of work, tireless note taking, and perhaps most especially from the ever-alert and observant eye belonging to this talented journalist.
Whether you're doing research about the industry or you're simply reading up on it to enhance your own understanding, consider Beaver Street a great resource. Rosen's account is well-balanced, illuminating, and visceral when need be.
You get the sense that Rosen has always had this book in mind from the very day he started working in the industry. An account this evolved and thoughtful clearly comes from years of work, tireless note taking, and perhaps most especially from the ever-alert and observant eye belonging to this talented journalist.
Whether you're doing research about the industry or you're simply reading up on it to enhance your own understanding, consider Beaver Street a great resource. Rosen's account is well-balanced, illuminating, and visceral when need be.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A fascinating read which explores the characters and workings of this bizarre business. At times the subject is dark but Rosen maintains a level of humour which results in an engaging, absorbing, compelling read. One for the wish list.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A great read!
Robert Rosen's Beaver Street has been the source of my reading entertainment for the past week or so, and `entertainment' is certainly the most suitable word for me to use, though... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Brook
A masterclass on "the industry"
I bought Beaver Street for academic reasons. I wanted to know more on the "industry", and especially about the magazine business before the Internet. Read more
Published 9 months ago by elguasonviejo
Beaver Street, a Nowhere Man into the porn business
What is in common between "Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon" and "Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography" ? The answer of most of you would be: Nothing! Read more
Published 10 months ago by 10, Mathew St.
On the money shot!
I worked for and with Rosen during his years at GCR. His accounts are real, the stories are all true. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Writer1
Fascinating...
Fascinating... exciting... magnificent...
Can't get over the fact that there was a (porn) life BEFORE internet.
Long live the good old porn magazines! :)
Can't get over the fact that there was a (porn) life BEFORE internet.
Long live the good old porn magazines! :)
Published 10 months ago by Mark The K.
An eye popping account of America's old line porno mags
Most men would probably consider a job with a glossy porno mag to be the best possible career move short of being the lucky guy in the photo spread. Read more
Published 10 months ago by CentralCoast
Eager for Beaver Street
There used to come a time in the teenhood of most guys when you graduated from Playboy to more single-purposed periodicals, the type of magazine that, before the Internet all but... Read more
Published 10 months ago by B. A. Nilsson
A Rare Glimpse into the Fascinating Golden Age of Porn
I've just completed Beaver Street and could not put it down. There is nothing like it; rather no comprehensive history of modern porn, especially of what is called The Golden Age... Read more
Published 11 months ago by poison penn
A Raunchy, Rollicking Ride Back to the Porny Days of Yesteryear!
Robert Rosen describes "Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography" as an "investigative memoir," which it definitely is, in the best and truest sense of both words. Read more
Published 11 months ago by P. Slim
DOWN THE XXX RABBIT HOLE
Ever wonder what kind of creature lurked beyond the green XXX door, helping create the $8 billion a year monster called the porn industry? Read more
Published 15 months ago by David Comfort
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