“Before Porn was Legal is part chronicle of liberalism, part rags-to-riches tale of businesswoman Beate Uhse and her sex empire, and part morality tale of the economic clout of male consumers. Elizabeth Heineman takes her readers through a story of why sex matters to the recent history of Germany and, by extension, all societies that find the marketplace called on to mediate tensions between sexual freedom and shifting social morality. Concise, sharply argued, smart. Heineman does for Uhse what Barbara Ehrenreich did for Hugh Hefner in The Hearts of Men and Kathy Peiss did for Madame C. J. Walker in Hope in a Jar: she brings readers into the frothy intersection of desire and commodities.”

Jane Gerhard, Mount Holyoke College

“This outstanding book explores the relationship between sexual emancipation, consumerism, and mail-order marketing in the context of West Germans recovering from the legacy of Nazi rule. Elizabeth Heineman’s history of Beate Uhse’s erotica empire is filled with paradoxes, insights, and unintended consequences.”

Claudia Koonz, Duke University

“This is a well-written work of exhaustive scholarship. Elizabeth Heineman approaches her topic from multiple perspectives and has a great story to tell, one that will be read by a broad public interested not only in modern Germany but also in the history of sexuality, consumer culture, and the ways societies negotiate moral standards.”

Robert G. Moeller, University of California, Irvine