title: Social Dancing in America [2 volumes]: A History and Reference
author:  Ralph G. Giordano 
description: Who would have thought that the topic of social dancing was so complex and nuanced or that it is so interesting? This beautifully composed, stylishly written examination of the social value of public dancing, as well as its function in reflecting changing values, begs to be read start to finish. The first chapter in volume 1 provides background on the history of social dance and American dance to 1740. The remaining four chapters cover the years 17401820, 18201865, and 18651900. Volume 2 is divided into seven chapters treating categories of twentieth-century dance, including the Charleston, swing, disco, and break dancing. Each chapter begins with a section on the political, cultural, and social climate and goes on to cover the dances themselves, followed by the venues where dancing typically took place. The discussions are deep and far ranging, dealing with political and religious controversies that dancing either expressed or stirred up. The text is laden with quotations from primary source material, and sidebars contain some choreographic information, such as diagrams and verbal instructions for the longways set and the quadrille. Highly informative black-and-white period reproductions and photographs extend the text perfectly. For example, photographs of both the Charleston and the shimmy shed light on the contemporary outrage over these dances. Both volumes conclude with bibliographies and detailed volume indexes. In addition, volume 1 has a "Select Bibliography of Online Dance Instruction Manuals Available from the Library of Congress," while volume 2 contains a "Select List of Hollywood Movies by Dance Type." This fascinating and readable work is suitable for any large performing-arts collection as well as collections on social history. It is a worthy companion to Maureen Needham's I See America Dancing (University of Illinois, 2002), which covers much of the same turf using primary source readings. Welton, Ann
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  ### Lacy
  
  
  
  
  
  **Diana Palmer**
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Chapter One
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The party was getting
  
  
  noisier by the minute.
  
  
  
  
  
  Lacy Jarrett Whitehall watched it with an air of
  
  
  total withdrawal. All that wild jazz, the kicky dancing, the bathtub gin
  
  
  flowing like water as it was passed from sloshing glass to teacup. She wasn't
  
  
  really as much a participant as she was an onlooker. It made her feel alive to
  
  
  watch other people enjoying themselves. Lacy hadn't felt alive in a long time.
  
  
  
  
  
  Many of the neighbors were elderly people, and
  
  
  she suffered a pang of conscience at what, to them, must have seemed like
  
  
  licentious behavior. The Charleston was considered a vulgar dance by the older
  
  
  generation. Jazz, they said, was decadent. Ladies smoked in public and
  
  
  swore—and some actually wore their stockings rolled to just below the kneecap.
  
  
  They wore galoshes, unfastened, so that they flapped when they walked—hence
  the
  
  
  name given to the new generation: flappers. Shocking beha