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Anthony Comstock: Roundsman Of The Lord
1927. Illustrated. Journalist and political activist Heywood Broun and Pulitzer prize winning author Margaret Leech have written the biography of Anthony Comstock, American morals crusader. He served with the Union army in the Civil War and was later active as an antiabortionist and in advocating the suppression of obscene literature. Portrait of a Crusader; Comstock and the Freudian Lions; Boyhood and a Wintry Faith; Should I Fall; Dear M.; The Hydra-Headed Monster; Beecher and the Lady Brokers; Puritan in the Spotlight; The Conquest of Congress; Comstock Shows His Badge; The Palace of Restell; Fires of the Inquisition; Sniping at Lady Luck; Bouquets and Brickbats; Artistic and Classical Traps; and The Old Man. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
316 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2004
16 people want to read
About the author
Heywood Broun
73 books7 followersHeywood Campbell Broun was an American newspaper columnist and critic, best known for his strong stance against social injustice, and his long-running column "It Seems to Me." Broun worked for the New York Tribune from 1912 to 1921, and the New York World from 1921 to 1928, where his "It Seems to Me" column began. In 1928 he transferred to the New York World-Telegram, where "It Seems to Me" appeared until he moved to the New York Post near the end of his life. Broun was a founder of the American Newspaper Guild, and its first president, from 1933 until his death. Broun regularly used his column to defend the underdog, point out social injustice, and back various labor unions. And in 1930 he ran unsuccessfully for congress on the Socialist ticket.
Broun was also a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an informal literary group that met regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, from its inception in 1919 to its decline in 1929. In 1917 Broun married writer and feminist Ruth Hale, and their only child, Heywood Hale Broun, grew up to be a television personality and a writer in his own right. Broun died of pneumonia in 1939, aged 51.
Broun was also a member of the Algonquin Round Table, an informal literary group that met regularly at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, from its inception in 1919 to its decline in 1929. In 1917 Broun married writer and feminist Ruth Hale, and their only child, Heywood Hale Broun, grew up to be a television personality and a writer in his own right. Broun died of pneumonia in 1939, aged 51.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 25, 2022
Anthony Comstock is a name from the musty past but his descendants are alive today, busy banning books in Texas, punishing theme parks in Florida, tireless. This is an excellent account of a religious zealot making hell of other people's lives. The authors are a pair of Algonquins whose critical analysis may be too kind to a man whose zeal drove more than a dozen people to suicide. The book is well written, mildly witty, and absolutely should be available as an e-text.
Comstock is the advance guard of the legion of do-gooders, politicians, and judges who tried to put the 20th Century back into the pew. His victims included George Bernard Shaw, Bernarr Macfadden, Ida Craddock, Victoria Woodhull, and other smut mongers, proto feminists, and free lovers. He serves as a shining example of uncontrolled government tyranny over unorthodox viewpoints and as a warning.
As much as one might wish that Comstock had been caught somewhere exposing his libido or otherwise disgraced, the man died largely untouched by the damage he had wrought on the lives of others. His ugly zeal probably helped build the distaste for censorship -- especially of ideas -- that characterizes 20th Century America. Comstockery may have been a necessary step on the road to a near total collapse of censorship by the century's end. His life and work are powerful reminders of how far we've come and why we must never travel back that way.
Comstock is the advance guard of the legion of do-gooders, politicians, and judges who tried to put the 20th Century back into the pew. His victims included George Bernard Shaw, Bernarr Macfadden, Ida Craddock, Victoria Woodhull, and other smut mongers, proto feminists, and free lovers. He serves as a shining example of uncontrolled government tyranny over unorthodox viewpoints and as a warning.
As much as one might wish that Comstock had been caught somewhere exposing his libido or otherwise disgraced, the man died largely untouched by the damage he had wrought on the lives of others. His ugly zeal probably helped build the distaste for censorship -- especially of ideas -- that characterizes 20th Century America. Comstockery may have been a necessary step on the road to a near total collapse of censorship by the century's end. His life and work are powerful reminders of how far we've come and why we must never travel back that way.
April 20, 2011
This is the best bio I have found of Comstock; there are not many others to choose from. I can't say it is unbiased, or is it the truth that is biased against him? Trumbull's biography is equally biased, but in Comstock's favor. Comstock's own books indict him as unbalanced.
What you think of Anthony Comstock depends upon what you think of censorship. If you think smut is dangerous, as he did, then his extremes of behavior are perhaps understandable. And you have to consider the times he lived in. But this was a man who thought that scientific treatises on the propagation of marsupials were dangerously lubricious! That unclad mannikins menaced public morality! That smut dealers deserved death. There was never a dull moment when Comstock was official vice hound of the U.S. Post Office. He clashed with some interesting characters. The chapter on George Francis Train is especially entertaining.
Heywood Broun summed him up best when he said, "Any given censor is a fool. The very fact that he is a censor indicates that." This is a book about censorship. The authors were against it. Good for them!
What you think of Anthony Comstock depends upon what you think of censorship. If you think smut is dangerous, as he did, then his extremes of behavior are perhaps understandable. And you have to consider the times he lived in. But this was a man who thought that scientific treatises on the propagation of marsupials were dangerously lubricious! That unclad mannikins menaced public morality! That smut dealers deserved death. There was never a dull moment when Comstock was official vice hound of the U.S. Post Office. He clashed with some interesting characters. The chapter on George Francis Train is especially entertaining.
Heywood Broun summed him up best when he said, "Any given censor is a fool. The very fact that he is a censor indicates that." This is a book about censorship. The authors were against it. Good for them!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews