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

A lively history of the Watch and Ward Society--New England's notorious literary censor for over eighty years.

Banned in Boston is the first-ever history of the Watch and Ward Society--once Boston's unofficial moral guardian. An influential watchdog organization, bankrolled by society's upper crust, it actively suppressed vices like gambling and prostitution, and oversaw the mass censorship of books and plays. A spectacular romp through the Puritan City, here 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 banned in Boston.

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
Corruptilƒ$