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Are there any good books worth reading? I'm looking for books centered on the history of the porn business.

Some porn stars of yesterday have written "autobiographies"(Linda
Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, etc).
There is Jason S Martinko who wrote a big tome called "The XXX Filmography, 1968-1988"
It is not a history of porn but details just about every porn (US) movie released
in those years.
Then there is the invaluable "Sinema" by Kenneth Turan & Stephen S. Zito
about the early days of US porn.
A couple of Italian writers have written about porn released in that country
(I think one of them is referenced in the home page of EGAFD)

alright, thanks.

What about this one?

Not a history, but interesting reading:

I saw "The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn
Film Industry" a few years back in a big bookstore. It was being sold as
new and it was a bit tattered and dog eared and a bit too pricey
for my taste.
Does not really read in a chronological cohesive way. It is just basically
a number of interviews with porn personalities from what I recall, gleaming
through the pages of this book. Not to say it was not interesting, but it is
hard to get a chronological sense of what was going on in the porn
industry in the golden age, just people recollections of certain things
and episodes. If you are looking for someone from the outside dissecting
movies, porn industry, and social mores of the time, this is not it.

For a good idea of how porn got started in the US, who the movers and shakers
were in the early 1970's (USA), you need to read "SINEMA" (1974) I cited above.

If you want to know more about US porn movies in general "The XXX Filmography, 1968-1988"
makes very good reading, and of course there are the several books written
by Pat Riley: X-Rated Videotape Star Index I, II and III; the X-Rated Videotape Guide
V, VI, and VII; and the coauthor of volumes III and IV. I believe some of those
books are sold at Amazon.com

There were early works like "Contemporary Erotic Cinema" (1973) by early
porn chronicler William Rotsler, and "The Celluloid Love Feast"(1971) by Martin A.
Grove & William S. Ruben.
Back in the 1970's and 1980's Playboy magazine used to chronicle the porn industry
in their ongoing "Sex In Cinema" series that you should look into.
In the UK there was a magazine called "Cinema X" I think, and in France there
was "Eroscore" and "Sex Stars System" which chronicled the early days of
porn. And of course "Adam Film World" in the US wrote up well illustrated article
about new porn movies in release, which were followed by other magazines in the
early 1980's Adult Cinema, Video-X, etc).

Thanks for the answers, guys.

Len: I'll google your recommendations.

The XXX Filmography, 1968-1988 sounds like a good comprehensive one. Is there any others that cover the '90s and the '00s?

And what about the Italain ones? I like that country's movies. You mentioned there's a reference on the home page, where?

>The XXX Filmography, 1968-1988 sounds like a good comprehensive one. Is there any others that cover the '90s and the '00s? And what about the Italian ones? I like that country's movies. You mentioned there's a reference on the home page, where?
and he mentioned the book "DizionHard" (about 500 pages, I think it sold
for about 39 Euro) by a certain Rocco D'Amato, published in 2003
Amazon used to carry it, but it seems they don't carry it any more

[img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41O2xtJQpPL._.jpg[/img]
I have not read it and I can't really comment on its contents, other
than it supposedly covers from the origins of porn in Italy up to 1990.
I believe it lists just about every porn movie released in Italy (all in
alphabetical order) with information and summary.
I don't know whether it is still possible to order it directly from the author
through the e-mail indicated in the EGAFD page linked above.
Or through here (if this info is still good):
Mail: C. P. 99, 00162 Roma Nomentano,
e-mail: roccodamato@email.it.
I did some Google search and it seems this Italian bookstore seems to
offer this monumental book for about 30 euro (+shipping)

(I do not know the condition of the book, and you have to enquire
before ordering of course)



As I understand it there is another Italian book
"Gola profonda. La pornografia prima e dopo Linda Lovelace"
by Cal? e Ciponte (published by Lindau, 176 pages, 15 euro)
which I know nothing about but seems to detail mostly DEEP
THROAT and its aftermath.

Have a look at the filmography at the end of this Google listing
for "Contemporary Erotic Cinema", it lists a lot of books (mostly
about mainstream erotic cinema) but also covers gay and straight
porn that you might want to look into (perhaps your local library
may carry them, depending where you reside).

I gave a glimpse at most of these books and I think I'm more interested in an analysis or descritption of:

how porn started and the different phases it went through, the golden ages, the influence of the VCR, DVD, internet, the directors and performers that stood out and why, the styles, the iconic films. That kind of book, not so much a list of films.

Then check out the invaluable "Sinema" by Kenneth Turan & Stephen S. Zito (1974).
You have to understand that we are talking abut porn and no big publishing house
will be interested in publishing such works or paying big bucks for the few
"porn scholars" out there.

If you are looking for a big major author to write a 600 page book on the
history of porn, you will be waiting for a long time. As you can see
only a handful of people have taken a few stabs at it, and most of the major
lengthy works have been basically movie lists (in alphabetical order), in Italy
and the US.
But to understand the history of porn, you need to understand the movies
that were being produced. In detail.

You also need to know that porn did not start in a vacuum,
a lot of it runs parallel with what mainstream movies were being
made, distributed, censored, banned at the time as well.
You can't understand porn, if you have no clue who was Russ Meyer,
David Friedman, nudies, beaver movies, etc.

A lot of books over the last 50-60 years have been written about
sex/erotica in the movies, and when you think you know enough about
that, then you can move on to porn. And before you get to (modern) porn
you also need to understand the "stag movies" that were being produced
before people started the blather about DEEP THROAT.