Satan in the Dance Hall Rev. John Roach Straton, Social Dancing, and Morality in 1920s New York City

Satan in the Dance Hall: Rev. John Roach Straton, Social Dancing, and Morality in 1920s New York City explores the overwhelming popularity of social dancing and its close relationship to America's rapidly changing society in the early twentieth century. The book focuses on the fiercely contested debate about the morality of social dancing in New York City, led by such moral reformers and religious leaders as Rev. John Roach Straton. Guided by the firm belief that dancing was a leading cause of immorality, Straton and his followers succeeded in enacting municipal regulations on social dancing and moral conduct within the more than 750 public dance halls in New York City.

Ralph G. Giordano lives with his wife and their three children in Staten Island in New York City