Julia Pastore, who edited this volume, believed in it from the beginning and kept that faith. She got me, got the idea, and then called me out if I got lazy to make sure I didn’t forget it.
The debonair Joe Regal, an agent out of the old school, believed in it, and in me, even before Julia. I am grateful for his continuing trust and faith.
I dragooned Francesca Hayslett into the unenviable job of reading and critiquing early drafts of most chapters. Yet she worked like an enthusiastic volunteer.
It was Jacqueline Stenson who called me that day as I sat in the Atlanta airport. Over the next several years, Jackie provided an obscene amount of support not only for the MSNBC column, but for this book. I also appreciate the support of Julia Sommerfeld, Jane Weaver, Danny Defreitas, and Jennifer Sizemore of MSNBC, who let me delve much deeper into America’s sexual heart than I had any right to expect.
The editors at Glamour magazine, especially Jill Herzig—who has been a longtime patron of mine for reasons known only to her—Wendy Naugle, Genevieve Field, and Cindi Leive, displayed enormous patience and tolerance. I owe them.
Alex Heard, part colleague, part mentor, part inspiration, continues to give me valuable encouragement and advice.
Jane Hahn demanded I write a book about sex. I wish she were here to see it.
Two volumes provided important context for my own journey: The Social Organization of Sexuality, by Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels; and Handbook of Medieval Sexuality, edited by Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage, from which I took the quote from Hincmar.
This book depends utterly on the willingness of those people who appear in it to allow me entry into the most intimate parts of their lives. I am humbled by their openness, honesty, and graciousness.
And finally, thank you Montana Wildhack.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRIAN ALEXANDER hails from a small town in central Ohio where he served as both a Catholic altar boy and president of the county’s Teenage Republicans. He was once voted “most likely to become president of the United States” in junior high school, but opted for the prodigal life of writer and journalist. Now a contributing editor at Glamour magazine and a columnist for MSNBC.com, he has written for the New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Esquire, Outside, Wired, Details, and many other publications. He has made appearances on Charlie Rose, Today, The Early Show, CNN, ESPN, and other television and radio programs.
www.AmericaUnzipped.com
ALSO BY BRIAN ALEXANDER
Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion
Copyright © 2008 by Brian Alexander
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Harmony Books is a registered trademark and the Harmony Books colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alexander, Brian, 1959–
America unzipped: in search of sex and satisfaction /
Brian Alexander.—1st ed.
1. Sex customs—United States. I. Title.
HQ18.U5A35 2008
306.770973—dc22 2007031710
eISBN: 978-0-307-40738-2
v3.0
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