“This was PORN? Well, in 1915 it was.”

Some things never change.  From the moment of the birth of the internet, the first industries to cash in – and still do – were/are gambling and porn. This should come as no surprise. As soon as the Gutenberg printing process ‘technology’ spread across Europe, gambling in the form of cards and games of chance flourished. So did porn – and you didn’t hear a lot about that in your Western Civilization 101 and 102 classes. The Gutenberg process dates from about 1440. After that, it did not take long for porn to be a money-making enterprise. It was so widespread the Pope suppressed a book of erotic lovemaking positions published in 1524. (An Italian suppressing a book on lovemaking?!) But the floodgates had opened. La Puttana Errante (The Errant Prostitute, 1531) and L’Ecole des Filles (The Girls’ School, 1655) were popular enough to still be found in archives today.  French postcards like the one pictured here were the rage among American soldiers returning from Europe after World War I.  Comparing this photograph – which some soldiers purchased – to what is now free on the internet, well, some things never change. And gambling!  You no longer have to go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City to lose your money.  You can do it virtually.  Again, some things never change.

www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi

Steve Levi is an Alaskan writer who specializes in the Alaska Gold Rush (nonfiction) and the ‘impossible crime,’ (fiction.)  An ‘impossible crime’ is one where the detective must figure out HOW the crime was committed before going after the perpetrators – like a Greyhound bus with bank robbers and hostages disappearing off the Golden Gate Bridge –THE MATTER OF THE VANISHING GREYHOUND. Steve’s books can be found at www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi

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