"There is nothing new under sun" or so it goes. Would the author even bother including the word "sin" in the sub title to this book if they were to publish now. In a relatively short space of time the notion of what is a sin seems to have unravelled. In an era when morality is increasingly becoming a relatively subjective thing it may not carry the necessary weight of conviction when descrbing the wrongness of an act.The almost unspoken civil respect for our fellow citizens seems to be turning to steam on the sin scorched pavements of history. Notions sin, vice, pleasure and culpability birthed in the respectabilty of the social contract are unravelling with the speed of a disintegrating elastic at the heart of a golf ball.
Its a well written, very engaging book that details the carnal history of London dating back to the Roman Empire. It steers a winding path through centuries taking in slavery,ancient and modern. In the history of mankind we forgive much, if it were driven by economic need, but a history of sin and vice has a humane cost embedded at its very core. The ability to sell sex, to modify the act and its many permutations as commerce reveals a savage history that may well leave the reader wanting to bath their eyeballs. You will not be able to unsee and nor should you.
Own the information received. There are lessons to be learned from a history of vice. If only to point out its proximity to modernity.Wherever man goes there you will find the prurient.
But at all times bow to the wisdom of Holly Johnston and Frankie Goes To Hollywood...
And relax.
