Brian HoffmansNakedis a thorough and engaging account of many of the contests over social nakedness that took place in American society from the 1930s to the 1990s.
Hoffman exposes the beginnings of public nudity as a legitimate movement in the United States, beginning in New York City all the way back in 1929, when groups of men began peeling off their restrictive clothing and exercising in the nude at the New York Gymnasium...Hoffman's book ably traces the ideological development of the American nudism movement from its health-and-fitness beginning to the more politically charged movement it became in the 1960s and 1970s. and on into the 1990s, when quasi-mainstreaming of recreational nudity began to surface. An original, well-researched study.
In focusing on how nudists reinforced the pastoral ideal to situate nakedness as morally, physically, and socially beneficial in modern America, Hoffman uses nudism to seamlessly join disparate historiographies of feminism and gay liberation, obscenity law, adult media, alternative medicine, and environmental tourism.
Nakedprovides a well-organized overview of nudism in twentieth-century America, documenting the contributions of nudist leaders, intellectuals, court battles, and milestones for the nudist community... Any number of scholars should take note of the book.
Nakedachieves a rare blend of cultural and legal history, parsing both legal decisions and nudist magazines. Moving between the courtroom and the nudist camp, Hoffman illuminates how legal decisions inspired changeemboldening nudists to construct new camps, publish full-frontal nudity, or welcome more Americans to nude beaches.
[T]his book provides a fresh angle to discussions concerning reproductive rights and sexual freedom that is not so often given attention in the curriculum as a historic part of sexual freedom or displays of gendered assumptions and prevailing attitudes concerning men and women and how they should or should not behave.
Hoffman provides a comprehensive overview of the history of American nudism.Hoffman adeptly documents and defines legal practices that determined the methods by which nudism could be viewed, consumed, and experienced in American culture. Summing Up: Highly recommended.
This book will be of much use to readers interested in the history of obscenity laws and controversies.
Andrea Friedman,author of Prurient Interests: Gender, Democracy, and Obscenity in New York City, 1909-1945:
A compelling and provocative interpretation of the American nudist movement,Nakedmakes a significant contribution to the literature on the history of sexuality in the twentieth century United States. Shedding light on a heretofore unstudied sexual movement and the political and legal response to it, Hoffmans focus on the rurality of U.S. nudism pushes us to rethink the urban-centered bias of most studies of the history of sexuality.
