Scarlet Letters

Jenny Nordbak takes us to a place that few have seen, but millions have fantasized about, revealing how she transformed herself from a USC grad lacking in confidence into an elite professional dominatrix who finds her own voice, power and compassion for others. On an unorthodox quest to understand her hidden fantasies, Jenny led a double life for two years. By day she was a construction manager, but at night she became Mistress Scarlett. Working at LA’s longest-running dungeon, she catered to the secret fetishes of clients ranging from accountants to movie stars. She simultaneously developed a career in the complex and male-dominated world of healthcare construction, while spending her nights as a sex worker, dominating men. Far from the standard-issue powerful men who pay to be helpless, Mistress Scarlett’s clientele included men whose fantasies revealed more complex needs, from “Tickle Ed” to “Doggie Dan,” from the “Treasure Trolls” to “Ta-Da Ted.” The Scarlett Letters explores the spectacularly diverse array of human sexuality and the fascinating cast of characters that the author encountered along the way.

Beautiful actress Martha Lawrence has a problem. Her once loving husband, Dirk, has become violent and controlling, and she doesn't know why. When she reaches out to their friend, mystery-solver Ellery Queen for help, Dirk interrupts their meeting in a drunken rage. He is convinced that the two are having an affair. Martha needs Ellery's help to convince Dirk that she's never cheated and never will. But from the clues he uncovers, it looks as if Martha might be two-timing after all. If Dirk is a cuckold, is his anger justifiable? And who is responsible if it results in murder? Ellery must figure out who is responsible for crippling a marriage before someone gets killed in the name of love.

Scarlet Letters explores the fascination exerted by adultery throughout the long history of western cultures. Critics from the UK, USA and Australia, working in a variety of specialisms, have contributed to this substantial new collection of close readings and wider contextualisations. As well as focusing on the bourgeois nineteenth century as the high age of representations of adultery, the book offers historicist and psychoanalytic analyses of texts ranging from the Amphitryon myth to Fatal Attraction and The Piano .

Like its namesake, Scarlet Letters addresses the hard truths of life in an increasingly "progressive" America where the irrational prejudices of a group can crush the soul of the individual. In both the old and new puritanism, worshippers achieve a sense of moral worth simply by designating themselves among "the elect"--no good works required. To validate that uncertain status, they feel compelled to heap abuse upon the sinner lest they too be thought guilty of the sin. Rather than simply cataloging the neo-puritan assaults on reason and liberty, Scarlet Letters illustrates how the progressive movement came to mimic a religion in its structure but not at all in its spirit while profiling those brave individuals who dared to take a stand against this inquisition. In the neo-puritan world, all conservatives are an awkwardly worded tweet away from being branded a homophobe, a racist, a sexist, an Islamophobe or worse. Progressives force assumptions upon anyone who disagrees with their political and social agenda. Those who dare suggest a violent attack was committed by someone of Islamic faith is an Islamophobe. Those who identify the race of even a wanted criminal is a racist. Those who don't support gay marriage are homophobes with a capitol "H." In the eyes of the progressive neo-puritan, that word - that letter - becomes all that a person is. With real-life examples from sexist Clarence Thomas to Islamophobe Ayaan Hirsi Ali to racist Paula Deen to homophobe Phil Robertson, author Jack Cashill explains how a person's identity is reduced to the cruelest of stereotypes. Falsified narratives and manufactured outrage perpetuate the neo-puritan goals, whether they be affecting a presidential election, or simply undermining an individual's personal opinion in order to drag them down. Discover how progressive forces have eroded traditional American values and how the movement became inquisitional and vengeful. Find out how individuals and organization have found the courage to resist this movement and what you can do to fight back successfully.

Hawthorne’s story of the disgraced Hester Prynne (who must wear a scarlet “A” as the mark of her adultery), of her illegitimate child, Pearl, and of the righteous minister Arthur Dimmesdale continues to resonate with modern readers. Set in mid-seventeenth-century Boston, this powerful tale of passion, Puritanism, and revenge is one of the foremost classics of American literature. This Broadview edition contains a selection of historical documents that include Hawthorne’s writings on Puritanism, the historical sources of the story, and contemporary reviews of the novel. New to the second edition are an updated critical introduction and bibliography and, in the appendices, additional writings by Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Henry James, and William Dean Howells.

These interpretative essays explore different topics and issues in the context of history and culture.