Description:
Fragile Minds and Vulnerable Souls investigates the creation of obscene writings and images --from popular medical works to stereoscope cards--and the process through which these texts were deemed dangerous to the intellectual and emotional lives of vulnerable consumers in nineteenth-century Germany.
Review Quotes: "Sarah Leonard's approach to the topic of obscenity in the German states is fresh, innovative, and sophisticated. It offers an entirely new reading of the history, arguing for a paradigmatic shift in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Her synthesis of the cultural, intellectual, social, and political histories of censorship and obscenity law is unusual, cutting-edge, and impressive."-- "Ann Goldberg, University of California, Riverside"