# Scandalous books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102 "2005-12-17T21:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/1 "2005-12-17T21:49:19Z")
So I was just re-reading _Peyton Place_ and I thought a list/discussion of books that generated a scandal might be interesting. Off the top of my head, besides PP, there’s: _Valley of the Dolls_, Jackie Susann’s magnum opus; Joyce’s _Ulysses_, subject of a famous obscenity trial; _The Well of Lonliness_, by Radclyffe Hall; Salman Rushdie’s _The Satanic Verses_, more for the fatwa declared against him than the book itself; _American Psycho_ by Bret Easton Ellis; Kitty Kelley’s biographies of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan; _Fortunate Son_ by J.H. Hatfield, an early GWB biography that was suppressed for a while. The author later turned up dead in a motel room. What else? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/2 "2005-12-17T21:54:01Z")
Lady Chatterly’s Lover by (I think) D. H. Lawrence Lolita, of course. I think The Monk by Matthew Lewis and Dracula by Bram Stoker caused a bit of a stir too, didn’t they? I dunno. I’m old, but not that old. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/3 "2005-12-17T22:02:43Z")
_Vox_ by Nicholson Baker ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/4 "2005-12-17T23:08:15Z")
> [@mikeargo](#): > > _Vox_ by Nicholson Baker Now, was this scandalous in and of itself, or because it played a bit part in the Clinton/Lewinsky business? ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/5 "2005-12-18T00:26:09Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Now, was this scandalous in and of itself, or because it played a bit part in the Clinton/Lewinsky business? Great memory, **Otto**. Didn’t Monica give this book to Bill? I think it was upsetting to the prigs anyway because it is entirely a series of phone sex conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/6 "2005-12-18T00:28:37Z")
_Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice_, by James Branch Cabell ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/7 "2005-12-18T03:06:39Z")
Didn’t _Anna Karenina_ cause quite a stir when it was first published? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/8 "2005-12-18T03:13:15Z")
Lolita, of course ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/9 "2005-12-18T03:14:22Z")
Auntie Pam, I read you post, missed Lolita, and posted the same darn thing. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/10 "2005-12-18T03:52:37Z")
Forever Amber by Katherine Winsor. This was a scanalous book back in the 40’s. It is somewhat tame compared to modern day bodice rippers. He kisses her, she relaxes, chapter ends. Next chapter she is pregnant. Moral of the story is never relax! Quite an enjoable read. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/11 "2005-12-18T04:29:19Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > _Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice_, by James Branch Cabell I’m glad someone mentioned this one. _Jurgen_ led to a huge show trial in New York on “obscenity charges” (i.e. promoting atheism). It made Cabell hugely famous in his day, yet for some reason he sank into obscurity shortly after he died. Even literary types don’t seem to know who he is these days. But Cabell really is one of the great American authors. Witty, succinct and he hits you with real messages when you least expect it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/12 "2005-12-18T08:09:53Z")
Harriet Beecher Stowe, _Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or, Life Among the Lowly_. Quite a few of Dickens’ works, like _Hard Times_, caused something of a ruckus, especially among those he was lampooning. Gore Vidal’s _City and the Pillar_. There was a book released in Australia some years back called _The Hand That Signed the Paper_, by Helen Demidenko. It told the story of a Ukrainian family who battled Stalinism and became Nazis, then moved to Australia. It was sold as a story about Ukrainians, by a member of a Ukrainian imigrant family. The book won a couple prestigious Australian literary award, including the Miles Franklin Award, the biggest thing in Aussie literature. The book itself caused something of a minor scandal, raising accusations of anti-semitism. But then the big scandal hit, when it was reveald that Helen Demidenko of Ukrainian descent was actually Helen Darville of English background, and that she had misrepresented her past in order to make her novel seem more authentic. The whole thing set off a big debate over the ethics of Darville’s con, and whether a work of fiction should be judged independently of its author’s origins. ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/13 "2005-12-18T08:12:18Z")
Little Black Sambo? ---
**Author:** ![Sgt.Pepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Sgt.Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/14 "2005-12-18T14:39:00Z")
What about _Catcher in the Rye_? I always had the feeling that it created a stir when it was released. When I asked a teacher I was told it was because it had the F-word in it. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/15 "2005-12-18T15:16:39Z")
Do post-publication scandals count? If so, I’d vote for Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden. Our local Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation chapter gave this book to a bunch of area schools (along with another, poorly-written one titled, I think, “All-American Boys”); the surrounding brouhaha over a book written in '82 yet only challenged in our area some ten to twelve years later was ridiculous at best–especially since a number of school libraries had had it on their shelves for years with nary a peep from our knee-jerkish, conservative parent population. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/16 "2005-12-18T15:23:23Z")
The Postman Always Rings Twice, in the late 40’s Battlecry Blackboard Jungle, both in the early 50’s ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/17 "2005-12-18T16:10:18Z")
**Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin** (or something on those lines) caused a homophobic furore in the UK in the 1980s because it was being read to children in schools. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/18 "2005-12-18T16:28:02Z")
_Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret_ by Judy Blume _The Collector_ by John Fowles _The Education of Little Tree_ by Forrest Carter _Huckleberry Finn_ by Mark Twain _The Turner Diaries_ by Andrew Macdonald ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/19 "2005-12-18T19:45:54Z")
_Primary Colors_, by “Anonymous?” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102/20 "2005-12-18T19:52:38Z")
Elinor Glyn’s _Three Weeks_ (1907) and Michael Arlen’s _The Green Hat_ (1924) were the scandals of the year when they came out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scandalous-books/336102.md?page=2)