Review: Striptease

Dear Constant Reader,

If you could only read one book on this history of burlesque, this is the one I’d recommend.

Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show by Rachel Shteir (2004).

Ms. Shteir looks at the entire history of burlesque in America and its foreign influences. She begins with the earliest days — minstrel shows, travesties and tableaux vivants — and the introduction of the striptease. She continues through the golden age, the decline, and finally the introduction of the topless (and more) club. There’s a little bit about the burlesque revival at the end.

The endnotes are extensive and reveal an academic bibliography. The book may originally have been her Ph.D. dissertation, but it’s quite readable. Illustrations sprinkled throughout.

UPDATE: Use with caution. There is unreliable information in this book.