Beneath Contempt and Happy To Be There: The Fighting Life of Porn King
Author: Jack Stevenson
Publisher: Headpress
Format: Paperback
Size: 139mm x 216mm
Page Count: 218
Genre: Biography
PURCHASE
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“I’m a crusader. I really believe in the First Amendment, and I use it fully, and I pay a price for that.” -Al Goldstein
That quote really sums up the life of pioneering smut peddler Al Goldstein, founder of the contentious fuck-mag Screw. He began publishing the magazine in tabloid form back in 1968 with fellow NYC journalist Jim Buckley and others, filling it with ridiculous articles like “Exposing a Fake Vagina”. The mag would slowly morph into Goldstein and Co. reviewing everything porn, setting themselves up as the end-all, be-all of the sex trade. Movies, sex toys, books… nothing was safe. But it was also a platform for Al to push his agendas and air his grievances with everything and everyone.
Biographer and author of Beneath Contempt, Jack Stevenson has turned in a wonderful look into the life of one of America’s most controversial, interesting and important social figures in United States history. He took sexuality from the fake, glossy pages of Playboy, turned it into a much grimier, real, if somewhat dysfunctional human thing and shoved it in the faces and up the ass of pompous society. The author takes the reader from the humble childhood of Goldstein, up through the underground world of XXX tabloids, into the rise and fall of Screw magazine and its outspoken editor/publisher.
Stevenson never allows the book to fall into any lulls. It is a fast-paced, well researched and extremely entertaining read from cover to cover. It hits on all of the high (and low) points of Al Goldstein’s very interesting life while never passing judgement one way or the other. You are also treated to some very cool scans from the pages of Screw and photos from behind the curtain of Goldstein’s life. The book’s whole package is impressive and informative. Headpress is the same company who released Shade Rupe’s fantastic interview tome Dark Stars Rising last year and they continue to “WOW” me with their very deep journeys into horror, cult and sleaze culture.
