Banned in Boston The Watch and Ward Society's Crusade against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil

#x1C;I want to be intelligent, even if I do live in Boston.#x1D; -an anonymous Bostonian, 1929 In this spectacular romp through the Puritan City, Neil Miller relates the scintillating story of how a powerful band of Brahmin moral crusaders helped make Boston the most straitlaced city in America, forever linked with the infamous catchphrase #x1C;Banned in Boston.#x1D; Bankrolled by society#x19;s upper crust, the New England Watch and Ward Society acted as a quasi-vigilante police force and notorious literary censor for over eighty years. Often going over the heads of local authorities, it orchestrated the mass censorship of books and plays, raided gambling dens and brothels, and utilized spies to entrap prostitutes and their patrons. Miller deftly traces the growth of the Watch and Ward, from its formation in 1878 to its waning days in the 1950s. During its heyday, the society and its imitators banished modern classics by Hemingway, Faulkner, and Sinclair Lewis and went to war with publishing and literary giants such as Alfred A. Knopf and The Atlantic Monthly. To the chagrin of the Watch and Ward, some writers rode the national wave of publicity that accompanied the banning of their books. Upton Sinclair declared staunchly, #x1C;I would rather be banned in Boston than read anywhere else because when you are banned in Boston, you are read everywhere else.#x1D; Others faced extinction or tried to barter their way onto bookshelves, like Walt Whitman, who hesitantly removed lines from Leaves of Grass under the watchful eye of the Watch and Ward. As the Great Depression unfolded, the society shifted its focus from bookstores to burlesque, successfully shuttering the Old Howard, the city#x19;s legendary theater that attracted patrons from T. S. Eliot to John F. Kennedy. Banned in Boston is a lively history and, despite Boston#x19;s #x1C;liberal#x1D; reputation today, a cautionary tale of the dangers caused by moral crusaders of all stripes.

Neil Miller teaches journalism at Tufts University and is the award-winning author of five nonfiction books. His most recent work, Kartchner Caverns, won the 2009 Arizona Book Award.

Prologue
The Battle of Brimstone Corner, April 1926
 
 
Part I: Early Days
Chapter 1
Founding Fathers, 1878

Chapter 2
First Forays into Censorship, 1881–1898

Chapter 3
Politics, Poker and the “Social Evil”
 
Chapter 4
Mrs. Glyn and Sin, 1903–1909
 
Chapter 5
Tough Guys and “Blue Bloods,” 1907–1925
   
Part II: The Watch and Ward Go to War
 
Chapter 6
New Bedford, 1916
 
Chapter 7
The Battle of Diamond Hill, 1917–1918
 
Chapter 8
Café Society, 1917–1919
 
Chapter 9
Corruption Fighters, 1913–1924
  
Part III: Decline and Fall
 
Chapter 10
Mencken versus Chase, Round 2, 1926
 
Chapter 11
Censorship Goes Wild, 1927–1928
 
Chapter 12
Boston, 1929
 
Chapter 13
The Dunster Bookshop Fiasco, 1929
 
Chapter 14
Depression Days, 1930–1938