Why did American reformers and missionaries seek to eliminate prostitution worldwide at the end of the 19th Century and the start of the 20th? In this wide ranging conversation with Dr Eva Payne Assistant Professor of History at the University of Mississippi about her new book, Empire of Purity. We explore how ideas around empire, race, eugenics and the need to police sexuality combined to lead US private citizens and politicians to wage war against prostitution world wide, enforcing a sexual ab
Reading time:
1–2 minutes
Explaining History Podcast
For more than a decade, the Explaining History Podcast has helped listeners around the world make sense of modern history. What began in 2012 as a simple experiment—short, accessible episodes explaining major historical events—has grown into a long-running library of carefully researched, thoughtful explorations of the 20th and 21st centuries.
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