New publications

There are several new or soon-to-be-published books on Nineteenth-Century prostitution that I want to read this winter. Here is an overview of them.   


Siobhán Hearne, Policing prostitution. Regulating the Lower Classes in Late Imperial Russia (2021)
The book discusses the regulation system in Russia from the 1840s to 1917. How was it implemented, experienced, and resisted in the era of modernization and urbanization? "Each chapter examines the lives and challenges of different groups who engaged with the world of prostitution, including women who sold sex, the men who paid for it, mediators, the police, and wider urban communities" (OUP).

Review in Journal of the history of sexuality
More information on the book


Jade W. Luiz, Archeology of a Brothel in a Nineteenth-Century Boston, MA (2023)
"The book explores how the practice of Nineteenth-Century sex work involved a careful construction of fantasy for brothel customers. This fantasy had the potential to provide financial stability and security for the madam of the establishment, if not for the women working for them". (Routledge)

It is nice to see that author Luiz continues the work of her former professor Mary C Beaudry. I did a blog post eight years ago on her fascinating archaeological research on the same topic. 

More information on the book


Katie M. Hemphill, Bawdy City. Commercial Sex and Regulation in Baltimore, 1790-1915 (2021)
According to the summary on the website, the book "centres women in a story of the relationship between sexuality, capitalism, and law. By the 1840s, urban growth and changing patterns of household labour ushered in a booming brothel industry. The women who oversaw and laboured within these brothels were economic agents surviving and thriving in an urban world hostile to their presence (...) Brothels and their residents altered the geographies, economy, and policies of Baltimore in profound ways" (Cambridge University Press) 

Reviews in Journal of the Early Republic and The American Historical Review.
More information on the book


Michele Renee Greer, History of Emotions. Emotional Histories in the Fight to End Prostitution (2022)
The topic has been discussed many times within the gender and feminism approach to the history of prostitution. My attention was drawn to the book when I read the summary. Emphasizing the research on emotions and simultaneously providing a nuanced view of the abolitionist movement: "This book identifies key abolitionist emotional communities, tracing their origins, interactions and evolutions with various historical and contemporary emotional styles. Emotional Histories in the Fight to End Prostitution highlights a more nuanced view of the movement's history". (Bloomsbury) 

More information on the book



In addition, the biography about journalist W.T. Stead ('The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon') published in 2019 is still on my reading list too. Although I will focus my attention on the books above first and they will probably keep me quite busy this winter. 


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