 "True
Confessions: Sixty Years of Sin, Suffering & Sorrow"
edited by Florence Moriarty
Fireside/Simon & Schuster,
1979
It's fun to look at
history through the lenses of popular/pulp/underground magazines. They
seem to tap into the true nature of an era. A social barometer if you will.
A gauge of what people fear and desire. One of the best records of social
anxieties was the series of "True Confession" magazines aimed at
women. This books takes stories from the 20's to the 70's shows how the
tastes of the reader (and the society) changed. In the 20's it was dope
parties and prohibition. The 30's was the Hollywood decade. GI bride stories
dominated the 40's; post war, atomic age, domesticity in the 50's; social
revolution of the 60's; and the swinging lifestyles 70's. Who knows if
these are actually true stories are the work of pulp writers, but then
who cares. These magazines were successful in the same way that early exploitation
film was successful. There was sin (which everyone loved) and then some
sort of moral comeuppance (which keep the establishment from shutting down
these publications). One of the best things about this collection is the
inclusion of actual ads from the magazines. It's a fascinating look at
how marketing played a role in shaping the "True Confessions" aesthetic.
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