Outrageous
A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
From the preeminent historian of comedy, an expansive history of show business and the battles over culture that have echoed through the decades and changed the United States
“Outrageous is required reading. An essential book of the social history of the United States—with laughs.” (Steve Martin)
There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that nobody got offended in the past, that people are simply too sensitive today, that racism and sexism were once widely accepted without objection. The truth is precisely the opposite.
With every step of our cultural history, minorities have pushed back against racist portrayals, women have fought for respect, and people have sought to change the world of entertainment and beyond through a combination of censorship, advocacy, or protest. Likewise, opposing forces have sought to sway public opinion and shape culture through violence and political and economic pressure.
Kliph Nesteroff, author of The Comedians and We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, presents a deep dive into the history of show business and illustrates both how our world has changed and how the fierce battlegrounds of today are reflected in our past.
Outrageous is a crucial and timeless book filled with surprising details, remarkable anecdotes, and unforgettable characters, including figures we think we know, such as Mae West, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, and Stan Laurel (who tried to bury his wife alive but still wasn’t “cancelled”), and others readers may never have heard of.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despite the prevailing notion that "you can't joke about anything anymore," contemporary TV, film, music, and theater boasts more "freedom of expression than ever," contends Nesteroff (The Comedians) in this extensive if somewhat one-note effort to "provide context for showbiz controversies" from the 1800s onward. Nesteroff visits the vaudeville age of the late 1800s and early 1900s, which saw the ban of "comedy concerning alcohol" in 1922 during Prohibition, and where "sexuality, immorality, and vulgarity" scandalized audiences and critics (the Moline Dispatch in Illinois lamented "the vulgar comedian," who "turns loose brothel jokes" on suffering audiences, while in Detroit, bare knees were banned from the stage). After television was popularized in the 1940s, complaints "poured in" about such small-screen scandals as Lucille Ball appearing on I Love Lucy while pregnant in 1952. Later uproars were incited by everything from "gay subject matter" in movies to the "evils of modern music." Nesteroff's main takeaway is that audiences are no more sensitive today than in the past—only now their vitriol is splashed across social media rather than contained in letters to the editor curated by newspaper staff. While the point is well taken, the argument never progresses much beyond its origins; readers are bombarded with endless historical examples that, while often fascinating, generally fail to elicit more far-reaching analysis. Still, readers seeking evidence to rebut criticism of today's "snowflakes" will have plenty to choose from here.
