Unbuttoning America: a Biography of Peyton Place by Ardis Cameron -- a review by Elleanore Vance

Note from the blog administrator:  Regular reviewer Elleanore Vance did a review of Peyton Place for us in February of this year. If you would like to see that, click HERE.

Cornell University Press offers both books as a discounted bundle HERE

This book was not what I wanted it to be. I guess I wanted more about Grace,  or even the Sheep Pen Murder. What I got is more of an analysis of the ripples Peyton Place created. 

Ardis Cameron shows us how Peyton Place helped us in our understanding of human sexuality as a whole. We see  the reactions of libraries and book stores to the book, those who banned the title,and those who couldn't keep copies on the shelves. We spend more time than I would have preferred on the Kinsey Report. 

According to the subtitle, this was supposed to be about Peyton Place, but I feel it was more a dissertation about censorship and human sexuality, using Peyton Place as a bow to tie it all together. Unbuttoning America reads like a Master's thesis  published for public consumption: informative in the extreme,  but not very fun to read.

⭐⭐⭐3/5