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Erotic Exchanges
- The World of Elite Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century Paris
- Narrated by: Sally Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
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Publisher's summary
In Erotic Exchanges, Nina Kushner reveals the complex world of elite prostitution in 18th-century Paris by focusing on the professional mistresses who dominated it. In this demimonde, these dames entretenues exchanged sex, company, and sometimes even love for being "kept". Most of these women entered the profession unwillingly, either because they were desperate and could find no other means of support or because they were sold by family members to brothels or to particular men. A small but significant percentage of kept women, however, came from a theater subculture that actively supported elite prostitution. Kushner shows that in its business conventions, its moral codes, and even its sexual practices, the demimonde was an integral part of contemporary Parisian culture.
Kushner's primary sources include thousands of folio pages of dossiers and other documents generated by the Paris police as they tracked the lives and careers of professional mistresses, reporting in meticulous, often lascivious, detail what these women and their clients did. Rather than reduce the history of sex work to the history of its regulation, Kushner interprets these materials in a way that unlocks these women's own experiences. Kushner analyzes prostitution as a form of work, examines the contracts that governed relationships among patrons, mistresses, and madams, and explores the roles played by money, gifts, and, on occasion, love in making and breaking the bonds between women and men. This vivid and engaging book explores elite prostitution not only as a form of labor and as a kind of business but also as a chapter in the history of emotions, marriage, and the family.
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North Korea is one of the most troubled societies on earth. The country's 24 million people live under a violent dictatorship led by a single family, which relentlessly pursues the development of nuclear arms, which periodically incites risky military clashes with the larger, richer, liberal South, and which forces each and every person to play a role in the "theater state" even as it pays little more than lip service to the wellbeing of the overwhelming majority.
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Interesting portrait of North Korea marred by awful pronunciation
- By Amazon Customer on 08-03-21
By: Daniel Tudor, and others
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All the Single Ladies
- Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation
- By: Rebecca Traister
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Rebecca Traister - introduction
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In a provocative, groundbreaking work, National Magazine Award finalist Rebecca Traister, "the most brilliant voice on feminism in this country" (Anne Lamott), traces the history of unmarried women in America who, through social, political, and economic means, have radically shaped our nation.
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Excellent book, destroyed by narration
- By Theresa Holleran on 03-06-16
By: Rebecca Traister
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Labor of Love
- The Invention of Dating
- By: Moira Weigel
- Narrated by: Kyra Miller
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Weaving together over 100 years of history with scenes from the contemporary landscape, Labor of Love offers a fresh feminist perspective on how we came to date the ways we do. This isn't a guide to "getting the guy". There are no ridiculous "rules" to follow. Instead Weigel helps us understand how looking for love shapes who we are and hopefully leads us closer to the happy ending that dating promises.
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Not Meant To Be Useful, But Quite Fun
- By Gillian on 02-14-17
By: Moira Weigel
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The Way We Never Were
- American Families and the Nostalgia Trap
- By: Stephanie Coontz
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Leave It to Beaver was not a documentary, a man's home has never been his castle, the "male breadwinner marriage" is the least traditional family in history, and rape and sexual assault were far higher in the 1970s than they are today. In The Way We Never Were, acclaimed historian Stephanie Coontz examines two centuries of the American family, sweeping away misconceptions about the past that cloud current debates about domestic life. The 1950s do not present a workable model of how to conduct our personal lives today, Coontz argues.
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fantastic report on the dangers of nostalgia
- By Richard Stine on 06-29-21
By: Stephanie Coontz
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Unnatural Selection
- Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men
- By: Mara Hvistendahl
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Lianyungang, a booming port city, has China's most extreme gender ratio for children under four: 163 boys for every 100 girls. These numbers don't seem terribly grim, but in 10 years, the skewed sex ratio will pose a colossal challenge. By the time those children reach adulthood, their generation will have 24 million more men than women. The prognosis for China's neighbors is no less bleak: Asia now has 163 million females "missing" from its population. And gender imbalance reaches far beyond Asia....
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Interesting idea but...
- By Seth P Dow on 07-30-15
By: Mara Hvistendahl
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Taking on the Trust
- The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller
- By: Steve Weinberg
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 11 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Long before the rise of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Microsoft, Standard Oil controlled the oil industry with a monopolistic force unprecedented in American business history. Undaunted by the ruthless power of its owner, John D. Rockefeller, a fearless and ambitious reporter named Ida Minerva Tarbell confronted the company known simply as "The Trust".
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Annoying Narrator
- By Nate on 04-03-15
By: Steve Weinberg
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The Devil in the Shape of a Woman
- Witchcraft in Colonial New England
- By: Carol F. Karlsen
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society and attempts to answer the question why some women were vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession.
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Vital scholarship beautifully narrated.
- By Audrey on 10-13-19
By: Carol F. Karlsen
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The House of Rothschild, Volume 1
- Money's Prophets: 1798-1848
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Alexander Adams
- Length: 28 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe.
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Great research, poor narrative
- By Amaze on 04-30-19
By: Niall Ferguson
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At America's Gates
- Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943
- By: Erika Lee
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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With the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese laborers became the first group in American history to be excluded from the United States on the basis of their race and class. This landmark law changed the course of US immigration history, but we know little about its consequences for the Chinese in America or for the United States as a nation of immigrants. At America's Gates is the first book devoted entirely to both Chinese immigrants and the American immigration officials who sought to keep them out.
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steeped in critical race theory
- By Amazon Customer on 01-30-22
By: Erika Lee
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Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
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Transformative to the point of being revolutionary
- By James C. Samans on 08-14-16
By: David Graeber
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Mademoiselle
- Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History
- By: Rhonda Garelick
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Little black dresses. Fake pearls. Jersey knit. Blazers. Ballet flats. Today - and for nearly the last hundred years - we all see some version of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel every time we pass a woman on the street. But few among us realize that Chanel’s role in the events of the twentieth century was as pervasive as her influence on fashion, or how deeply she absorbed and then brilliantly reimagined the historical currents around her.
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An Unlikable Portrait
- By Sara on 09-25-16
By: Rhonda Garelick
What listeners say about Erotic Exchanges
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Beth T. Irwin
- 05-26-17
Really fascinating insights into women's roles
Fascinating to learn how the authorities of the day used women for intelligence gathering, a kind of magistrate's court, and institutionalized system of corruption. I wasn't sure how this sort of academic research would work as an audio book, but I actually enjoyed it. (Caveat: I'm a history geek.)
The demi monde is so often used as a device in historical romance novels, but learning the reality behind it and how the power of bureaucracy was used to institutionalize the role into acceptable and unacceptable varieties was very satisfying. Historical authors will love this for research as the many vignettes of daily life suggest many plot possibilities.
The narrator kept the audio from degenerating into a dry lecture. It felt more like an extended TED talk and I stayed highly engaged. Kudos, as keeping nonfiction engaging and enjoyable is difficult.
“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jennifer S. Leblanc
- 02-01-15
Well researched but not Erotic
The performance of this book is delightful with a narrator whose French annunciation is pleasing. The research is well organized and highly factual. There is nothing sexual or erotic about this book. It is brilliant research on a business. The author articulates the particular commerce of sex in a historically accurate ( although bland) manner.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Laura
- 04-05-17
educational and interesting
This is a dry read because it is social history. Very informative if this is a subject of interest to you.
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- Calinurseguy
- 05-14-17
Genuinely thought provoking
Who woulda thunk. The actual lives of real people are honestly dealt with in a history that could have been 'scandalous ' and 'titillating' like a tabloid, but was treated more like the 'New Yorker' article. Very good
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3 people found this helpful
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- Margaret
- 12-01-19
Very interesting
This is the first book I’ve read/listened to by this author and I would listen to another. I love historical books and this one does a great job presenting this topic. It seems to be well researched, and is well laid out and interesting. I learned a lot. It’s interesting how most of the information known about these women comes from the observations of the police at the time.
This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Sally Martin ) and I would listen to another. She does very well narrating this content. Her voice is pleasant, her cadence appropriate.
There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence or swearing.
I was given this free review copy audiobook via Audiobook Boom at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.
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- Striker
- 10-24-17
Very Interesting
I agreed to review this book because it sounded uniquely interesting, and I'm glad that I did. I ended up learning a lot about a topic I never would have even considered could be covered in such detail. The book was obviously VERY well researched by the author and she did a good job of presenting all of the information in an easy-to-understand format.
If you like history books, you're probably going to enjoy this book.
The narrator also did a great job with pronouncing things I'm not even going to attempt to say and wouldn't dare try to spell.
A solid 4 stars with a 5 for narration.
I requested and received a free copy of this audiobook from the author, publisher, or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review. I was NOT required to write a positive review and this reflects my honest opinion of the work.
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10 people found this helpful
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- Shoshana Hathaway
- 08-07-15
Historical examination of the Demimonde
Erotic Exchanges (Unabridged)
________________________________________
Author: Nina Kushner
Narrator:
Sally Martin
Provider:
University Press Audiobooks
Running Time:
12 h 24 min
In Erotic Exchanges, Nina Kushner reveals the complex world of elite prostitution in 18th-century Paris by focusing on the professional mistresses who dominated it. In this demimonde, these dames entretenues exchanged sex, company, and sometimes even love for being "kept". Most of these women entered the profession unwillingly, either because they were desperate and could find no other means of support or because they were sold by family members to brothels or to particular men. A small but significant percentage of kept women, however, came from a theater subculture that actively supported elite prostitution. Kushner shows that in its business conventions, its moral codes, and even its sexual practices, the demimonde was an integral part of contemporary Parisian culture. Kushner's primary sources include thousands of folio pages of dossiers and other documents generated by the Paris police as they tracked the lives and careers of professional mistresses, reporting in meticulous, often lascivious, detail what these women and their clients did. Rather than reduce the history of sex work to the history of its regulation, Kushner interprets these materials in a way that unlocks these women's own experiences. Kushner analyzes prostitution as a form of work, examines the contracts that governed relationships among patrons, mistresses, and madams, and explores the roles played by money, gifts, and, on occasion, love in making and breaking the bonds between women and men. This vivid and engaging book explores elite prostitution not only as a form of labor and as a kind of business but also as a chapter in the history of emotions, marriage, and the family.
This is the 2nd book I have read from this provider, University Audiobooks, and both books have some excellent traits in common. Each book reads like a reprise of an academic research document, possibly a Doctoral thesis, revamped and restructured, slightly, for nonacademic readers interested in the areas under discussion. In the case of this book, the matter under discussion is the history of the Demimonde, especially with regard to the functions, economically, socially and culturally, of the professional mistresses. While the general topic is certainly erotic, the material contained in the book is not especially so, save by inference.
However, this in no way detracts from the interest of the material. Anyone interested in the history of the 18th Century, or of France just before the Revolution, will find this a fascinating read, because it provides insight into a sub-culture that, while it has been treated in fiction in various ways, is still a bit of an enigma to the modern world. It was a culture with its own customs, rules, and social hierarchies, and the women who inhabited it had, and used, a broad range of independence at a time when most women had very little, indeed. Many of them had access to, and control of, their own money and property, and they were able to both enter into, and dissolve binding contracts. True, they were, at least technically, on the fringes of society, but this position also provided them the freedom to conduct their lives, mostly under their own control.
The book is very well written, and the narrator was excellent, obviously completely comfortable with the many foreign (and not just French) names involved. Her phrasing was good, too, and her reading was objective and impersonal, as one would expect from a narrator of nonfiction, without being in the least boring.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in the era depicted, or in understanding the Paris Demimonde itself, which has had a subtle but profound impact, even to modern times.
I give both book and narrator a full 5 stars, and will be watching for more from this provider, with interest.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Jon
- 06-11-17
HER-story in the making..
First off, I love how they say the French words and then explains what it means. After that I love the history of such a, then scandulous now less so, occupation. Just hearing of all the hardships and torments that girls suffered way back when, made me realize they have come along way to get there equality, but are still struggling to not slip back into those old days.
The story flows well between love, hate, history, and of course, sex. If you want a historical story that draws you in, wanting more, and a story that is just a tad naughty to spice it up, Then this is for you...
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.
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- Prometheus Worley
- 04-06-18
Sexual status was a form of power!!!
Nina Kushner does an excellent job painting a realistic picture of the elite sex trade in 18th century France. Taking what would otherwise be a somewhat dry exposition of 18th century police reporting on Demimonde culture and transforming it into a very sumptuous narrative, Kushner shows how this erotic exchange of sexual companionship for money afforded many of these women financial independence.
The term she coined "Sexual Capital", to describe the tentative power some of these elite sex workers possessed, translated well into economic and financial capital. For many of these women such an arrangement allowed them to become self sufficient heads of households and controllers of their own destinies at a time when most women were totally beholden to whims of men.
Provocative and sometimes shocking, the detailed behind-the-scenes reporting of this 18th century Demimonde culture sheds new light on many of the diaries and memoirs of such libertine figures like Casanova and Lorenzo Da Ponte.
Though somewhat academically dry at some points overall the book truly is a page turner, so to speak. The narration is excellent, flows well, and was a treat to listen to.
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- Sara Landon
- 06-13-20
Well researched and a great listen
I picked this audio book up because I am interested in the plight of women through history in Europe. It did not disappoint. This book is clearly well researched and well laid out, much of it based on police records that were kept at the time of mistresses. The subject of prostitution is examined from every aspect, both inside the trade and from the outside. The subject is looked at very scholarly, which many examples of ladies and mistresses included.
The narrator handled the material well, including many French names. This was a very easy listen and an interesting listen.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review. .
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