About this title: With his colleague Jennifer Osbourne, the former punk-rock writer Legs McNeil explores the remarkable growth of the pornography industry in the second half of the 20th century through the eyes of its actors, producers, and of the gangsters who controlled them. Anonymous, drug-fueled sex in dilapidated hotel rooms, desperate, damaged people, and lives left in ruins are omnipresent--and there's also a sleazy side, with the cynical involvement of the Mafia, ill-planned robberies gone awry, sadism, torture, and gruesome corpses littering the book's pages. Related as oral history by many of the ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: 3rd Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: ReganBooks, New York
Date Published: 2005
Description: Vg in good jacket, in fresh mylar cover; gentle fraying along top of jacket, minor rubbing to board edges else a tight square unmarked copy in unclipped dust jacket. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Regan Books, New York
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Remainder mark to bottom page edge. Bottom corners slightly bumped, one very small tear at corner of jacket. Great copy with tight binding and clean pages. read more
Edition: 1st edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Regan Books / Harper Collins, New York
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: Boards in dust jacket. Very good. xvi+620pp., notes, index. Some b/w photos. An amazingly dense & varied history of the porn movie industry from the 1950s through the 90s, based principally on hundreds of interviews with the actors, directors, underworld financiers, FBI agents and assorted other players in the industry. From "The Sword Swallower" and Porno Chic, through drugs, video vixens, backlash and more, fame and misfortune, "killer and filler, " this tome seemingly tells it all. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: It Books
Date Published: 2005-02-15
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: New. Book is Brand New, Gift condition. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Description: Very Good. 0060096594 Signed by Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne, Stacy A? ? , and Peter Pavia on title page. First Edition Hardcover book in very nice condition, text is unmarked and pages are tight. Dust jacket has some slight corner wear. Dust jacket now nicely protected in mylar cover. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins World
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: Good. NO Jacket. Boards have some marks due to lack of jacket. Clean internally with a good binding. Adult content. The pornography film industry of Hollywood. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Date Published: 2006-03-01
ISBN-13:9780060096601ISBN:0060096608
Description: Good. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Date Published: 2005-02-15
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: Good. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: It Books
Date Published: 2005-02-15
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: New. New Book. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Date Published: 2005-02-15
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: Good. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: It Books
Date Published: 2005-02-15
ISBN-13:9780060096595ISBN:0060096594
Description: New. New Book. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Date Published: 2006-03-01
ISBN-13:9780060096601ISBN:0060096608
Description: Good. Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed! ! read more
"Written in the oral history style of "Please Kill Me" I thought would hate it,since I don't really care about the history of porn or those involved. However, I read the whole thing, laughed a lot and lots of cringing as well."
"I will read anything that McNeil puts together. His ability to take excerpts from so many different sources & interviews gives a comprehensive picture of the popularization of porn."
"Take aside the fact that it is about the Porn Industry it is a fascinating read. How and why certain avenues were persued ect. I wouldn't have read except for the fact that it was recommended to me."
"The book is an oral history, so it consists entirely of interview transcripts from key players in the world of adult film, including the actors, directors, the mob financiers, the FBI team that chased the mob, the girlfriends and the occasional tangential player like John Waters. On the face of it, this sounds like the authors didn't do much work, but the organization and selection of the interviews is excellent. You get a story from many angles and directly from the participants.
Many of the stories are quite amusing, many are more than a little shocking and quite a few are just tragic. The story of the famously well endowed John Holmes is a thread for much of the book. The character of Dirk Diggler in Boogies Night is at least partially modeled on that of Holmes. While Diggler experienece a rise and fall followed by a partial rise, Holmes's fall was uninterrupted. The robbery scene from Boogies Nights is based on a real robbery that ended in murder and questions remain about the role Holmes played. The Wonderland killings saw four people die as a result of being brutally beaten. Holmes certainly led the killers to the apartment, but may have even been one of the killers.
Then there is the story of Shannon Wisley who killed herself after she was injured in a drunk driving crash. The belief is that the suicide rose from her belief that her injuries would preclude her from working again. Okervil River wrote two songs about her, one from her father's perspective and one from her own. They are both great songs are terribly sad as you might imagine"
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