The World of Prostitution in Late Imperial Austria

Wingfield's book is an important and impressive piece of scholarship that offers an intriguing glimpse into a world that, despite its alleged deviancy, was not only ordinary, but also a central pillar of Habsburg life. * Katya Motyl, German History * a thoroughly researched and densely sourced account of sex work in Cisleithania (the Austrian half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on this side of the Leitha River) from the mid-1880s to the end of the First World War. The specific historical details of the cultural and societal attitudes toward prostitution are fascinating in and of themselves; the many points of comparison to early twenty-first-century debates about sex work make this study particularly exciting ... Wingfield's account is lively and full of fascinating details, incidents, and case studies. * Robert Deam Tobin, H-Net * a worthy entry in this tradition, an exemplary piece of scholarship that combines history from above and below in significant, often unanticipated ways. * Katherine Arens, Journal of the History of Sexuality * Wingfield's colorful narrative of the trial and the media frenzy it generated is a window into contemporary views about prostitution and its regulation shows remarkable range. . . in its coverage. * Anita Kurimay, Hungarian Historical Review * a work that will reshape the way scholars view late imperial Austrian society and culture... It is difficult to suggest improvements to this meticulously researched, engagingly written book * Cynthia Paces, Austrian Studies Newsmagazine * groundbreaking and innovative study * Centre for Austrian Studies prize committee * The World of Prostitution draws many fascinating, and at times, unexpected conclusions. Although Wingfield's monograph focusses on late imperial Austria, her approach opens up exciting new possibilities for scholars working across geopolitical contexts and time periods ... Wingfield's book raises complex questions that continue to divide present-day debates over appropriate legal frameworks for prostitution ... But maybe most importantly, Wingfield's commitment to excavating historical sex workers' physical traces across divergent institutional contexts and discursive practices serves as a reminder that prostitution is not a category but a lived experience in the first instance. * Sabine Wieber, Cultural and Social History * Wingfield's seminal study is a major contrbution to the historiography of fin-de-siecle Central Europe that cannot be ignored by those interested in the history of sexuality in general and of prostitution in particular. * Lutz D.H. Sauerteig, History * Wingfield's new book reveals that world to us in a sweeping way. It adds to the library of work on European prostitution and its regulation and contributes something to Austrian history in particular that we simply have not had before. ... it should be of special interest to readers of this Yearbook, including those that have not been engaged with the history of prostitution or sexuality before. * Scott Spector, Austrian History Yearbook *