Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin (Expanded Edition) (edition 2008)

This is an excellent book if you want to get a sense of the decadent side of Weimar Culture. I don't know of any other book that discusses this side of Germany between the wars in such detail. There is Peter Gay's book which is fine, but it has an entirely different focus. There are lots of pictures. If you have an interest in gender relations, nudism, eroticism in the arts or hedonism, this book will be of interest. Between WW1 and 2, Germany and in particular Berlin, was the sex capital of the world. This book points out the many prescient features of the clubs. If you don't know already, you may be surprised to learn that naturism, nudism, homeopathy, the hippie movement, body culture all started in Germany. The German culture has had a huge effect on the world and this book focuses on one aspect of it.
If you liked this, you may also find the following of interest: The Seven Addictions and Five Professions of Anita Berber: Weimar Berlin's Priestess of Depravity, Naked Germany: Health, Race and the Nation and Empire of Ecstasy: Nudity and Movement in German Body Culture, 1910-1935.
(I used this book for research I'm doing for a novel I'm writing.) The back of the book categorizes it under Popular Culture, Art History and Gender Studies. The book discusses homosexuality and nudism quite a bit, so if those topics interest you, then this book might be of interest. ( )

The vision of Weimar Berlin as a bastion of decadence in increasingly Nazi-fied Germany is perhaps due in large part to our familiarity with the musical "Cabaret" or with Isherwood's "Berlin Stories." But in fact, the available documentation for that vision has been pretty slim until recently.

Mel Gordon has spent years assembling the material he shares in this amazing book. Be warned; this is not a pleasant book to read. The images can be disturbing or downright upsetting, and the information therein is similarly unsettling. It is, however, an invaluable resource for any student of the period as it makes available material that has simply not been widely seen outside of Germany.

If you are as fascinated as I am with the period between the wars, this book is a must-have. It gives depth to the glossy, Hollywood version of Berlin decadence, and shows it to be born as much out of poverty and hopelessness as out of the free expression of sexuality/sensuality. And please do take quite seriously the warning: This book is NOT for the faint of heart. ( )

Beautiful illustrations/photographs, but can't help but think that there is something missing from the narrative. Seems cursory. A good start though.
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